[January 22] The number of Koreans using the Internet reached a new high of 19.04 million at the end of last year, a Korean government agency announced last week.
The new high is an increase of 8.18 million from 10.86 million at the end of 1999, the Korea Network Information Center (KRNIC) said.
The figure is slightly lower than that released by a private research organization recently, which put the number of Internet users at 20.28 million.
KRNIC conducted the survey in December, 2000, polling 10,186 people in 3,452 households, aged seven or older.
Of the 19.04 million, 18.11 million said they use the Internet more than once per week, up 16.1 percent from a similar survey done four months ago. Men were found to use the Internet (50.9 percent) only slightly more than women.
Those in their twenties and teenagers were the biggest users of the Internet, with two out of three young people online. However, the rate fell sharply beginning with those in their thirties, with just 43.6 percent in the age bracket saying they browse the Web. Only 22.7 percent of those in their forties and 5.7 percent of those aged over 50 said they use the Internet.
Of those surveyed, almost half said they use the Internet an average of five to 15 hours per week, while 22.2 percent were found to be using the Internet more than 15 hours per week.
Information search (55.9 percent) was the main reason for Internet use, followed by entertainment and games (21.3 percent) and e-mail (12.1 percent). Over two-thirds (76.3 percent) of Internet users had e-mail addresses.