Government’s Web sites rank No. 1 in study

Homepages owned and operated by the Korean government ranked No. 1 among 198 countries in terms of quality and service, a recent survey by Brown University in the United States showed. According to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency yesterday, the research into “global E-government” evaluated 21 criteria including databases, audio and video clips, foreign language versions and security on Web pages run by each country. Taiwan took the second spot, followed by Singapore, the United States and Canada. North Korea was ranked 17th, leaping from 183rd last year after adding many online services and databases. South Korea was ranked 32nd in 2004 and 86th last year. The evaluators cited the versatility of homepages run by the Korean government. One portal site can provide over 500 online services that outpace other countries in both quality and quantity in digital content, the researchers at Brown University said. They also praised the efforts to offer media content, including voice recordings and video, and the fact that the Web pages can be viewed with wireless mobile communication gadgets or personal digital assistants. by Seo Ji-eun