Minister Choi Yang-hee of the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (MSIP) delivers a speech at a ceremony to mark the 29th anniversary of the Month of Information Culture Plaza in Seoul on June 8.

Dignitaries, including MSIP Minister Choi and Chairman Choi Sung-joon of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) participate in the 29th anniversary event of the Month of Information Culture.

The Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (MSIP) and the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) jointly hosted a ceremony to mark the 29th anniversary of the Month of Information Culture at the Dongdaemun Display Plaza in Seoul on June 8.

The theme of the anniversary event was “Human-Oriented Future that Unfolds with Good-Natured Imaginations.” 

Among about 40 people on hand at the ceremony were MSIP Minister Choi Yang -hee, KCC Chairman Choi Sung-joon, dignitaries from several walks of life, member of civic organizations and the general public. 

The ceremony coincided with such side events as an exhibition of the tasks designated under the “K-ICT, I Create Town, ICT” program for solving pending issues of the local community by combining advanced ICT and creative ideas, and a talk concert.

Seventeen individuals and organizations were honored during the ceremony with diverse orders and prizes in recognition of their contribution to spreading a sound, creative information culture environment. 

The Order of Service Merit, Red Stripe went to President Lee Bong-kyu of Yonsei University Information Graduate School for exploring sound information culture content and nurturing creative manpower. Chang Sang-ho, head of the Gyeongnam Braille Library, was awarded with the Civil Merit Medal in recognition of easing the information divide by educating the visually handicapped on informatization. 

Seven tasks have been designated under the “K-ICT, I Create Town, ICT” program. They included a project involving the Seoul Metropolitan Government for creating a service platform for family dentists' oral care for students and kids, and Chuncheon City’s service for providing support to vulnerable areas via drones. Spectators were given an opportunity to take photos with models, go game guru Lee Sae-dol and his once-rival Google’s AI machine AlphaGo, as well as experience virtual reality. 

Television personality Tyler Rasch lectured on the right use of smartphones during the talk show, titled “Clean Internet, Smile Republic of Korea.” Gagwoman Kim Sun-jung, telecommunications experts, teachers and students participated in the event to discuss a joint slogan to ease such cyber downsides as cyber violence and malicious online comments, which is being hosted by ministries and the private sector. 

In his speech at the ceremony, MSIP Minister Choi said, “The Month of Information Culture designed to spread a sound and creative information culture environment takes on significance when it contributes to not only developing advanced informatization technology, but also developing and improving our daily lives.”

Notables, MSIP Minister Choi, KCC Chairman Choi, and President Suh Byung-jo of the National Inforamtion Society Agency, attend a ceremony to declare a beautiful Internet world. (Photos:MSIP)