Hangeul domain names to debut

Registrations for Hangeul domain names accepted from this month amid dou


The nation’s top telecommunications regulator announced Tuesday that it will begin accepting registrations for Korean-letter domain names later this month.

The Korea Communications Commission said that the Korea Internet and Security Agency will be in charge of the registration process and it will first collect the preferred domain names in Hangeul, or Korean letters, from government agencies and those with trademark rights from May 25. It will then take registrations from the public starting on Aug. 22.

The new system will mean that Korean Internet users will be able to search for agencies by typing the names in Hangeul. For example, people will be able to access the KCC’s website by typing its Korean name instead of having to insert www.kcc.go.kr.

The commission also said it will hold an open draw on Sept. 20 to select the winner of domain names requested by more than two people or groups.

Those receiving approval will be allowed to use the Hangeul domain names from Oct. 6, said KCC officials.

“People could use the domain names as a marketing tool for the name could either state the purpose of establishment or be remembered easily because it’s in our native language,” said a KCC official.

The domain name must contain less than 17 letters and may not start or end with a hyphen. Alphabet, numbers and hyphens could be included in the domain name on request.

The move was made after the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers decided in October 2009 to have countries introduce domain names in their native languages.

Since then, 33 countries, where English is a foreign language, have applied for their own domain names and the requests of a group of 20 nations, including Korea, have been granted so far, according to KCC officials.

However, it is not the first time that the government attempted to use Korean letters for domain names.

Although it was not composed purely of Korean letters, it adopted the domain name that included Hangeul and ended with “.kr” more than five years ago.

The mixed-language domain name had a symbolic meaning in that Korean letters can be utilized globally, but even top government branches, such as the Cheong Wa Dae, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, still have not registered.

When one types in one of those domain names, a message that says, “The page cannot be found” appears, most likely not serving its purpose.

In a related move, Rep. Cho Yoon-sun of the ruling Grand National Party raised doubts on whether introducing domain names in full Korean letters will be effective when considering the status of the Korean and English mixed domain names.

She said it was a bit too early to implement the system without conducting a thorough examination on the use of Korean domain names.

The KCC said that the current number of registered Korean-English mixed domain names totaled about 170,000.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)