Global Internet firms struggling in Korea

A flurry of global IT companies is making ambitious inroads into Korea, with recently Second Life and YouTube launching services here. It remains, however, to be seen whether their success can be repeated here.

Google, the world-biggest search site, has been struggling with less than 4 per cent of domestic search market share and trailing far behind in Korea. Second Life is already embroiled in a controversy that a possible cyber-sex using a ‘pose ball’ might cause serious problems with young users. For YouTube, copyright infringement and close monitoring of obscene video clips are the big challenges for it to take off here.