[EDITORIALS]Push innovation in technology

News of cutting-edge technology produced by major domestic companies is making us swell with pride. Sam-sung Electronics announced Monday that it had developed the world’s largest 82-inch TFT-LCD. It renewed the record for the largest liquid crystal display panel only five months after the Japanese company Sharp developed a 65-inch liquid crystal display.
On Sunday, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics achieved another global first by developing 3.5-generation cell phones enabling video telephone services even when moving at high speeds. The phones can transmit data at 14.4 megabits per second, which is about six times faster than that of European third-generation phones. It is indeed the mobile phone of our dreams.
First, we applaud developers at the companies who have striven, under difficult circumstances, in research and development. It is here that we find the hope of our future. Their brilliant achievements have been made amidst severe anti-corporate sentiments and a domestic depression, which is what makes us ever more proud.
Thanks to their efforts, our products are well-received in the international market. Recently, the U.S. magazine Consumer Reports selected a Hyundai Motor car as the “most reliable model.” The Asian Wall Street Journal used the price of a Samsung cell phone, Anycall, to compare the price level of commodities in major countries. These examples serve as corroborative evidence.
In the global market these days, the trend is that the winner takes all, or “2080,” which means that the top 20 percent firms hold 80 percent of the market. If front-line companies take their massive share of profits from monopolies and oligopolies, all that is left for those next in line is harsh competition, in which many are weeded out. The competition in technology development is a speedy race.
At this point, therefore, we ask our companies once more to arm themselves with a sense of crisis.
We must not become complacent with these achievements. Without foremost technology, the very existence of not only our companies but also our country is at peril. At these times, we are ever more desperate to have technology that will serve the country.