New breed of on-line traders beats recession
New breed of on-line traders beats recession
By Ahn Mi-young
SEOUL (DPA): When Kim Ki-Moon, 35, lost his job as a computer
programmer in a construction company to the South Korean economic
crisis, he began a frantic search for work.
Twenty months later, still without formal employment, he is
much more relaxed and rarely thinks about his old 2.5 million won
a month (US$2,100) position.
In the past year he has become a "cyber trader", dabbling in
financial markets via the Internet from his home in southern
Seoul.
"At first, I lost more money than I earned. Now I am learning
to read the market," he said.
On a typical day recently, he bought some electronics shares
after hearing of a firm's robust memory chip sales, then off-
loaded stocks of another venture company which he had bought a
few days earlier.
Although he won't say how much he earns, Kim said he has had
"a few lucky months" in which he made much more than he did in
his old job. He now has a lot more leisure time to spend with his
wife and four-year-old son.
Cyber traders
Kim is part of a new wave of day-traders in South Korea, the
country which, according to industry experts, has the world's
largest per-capita number of online stock traders.
Almost 1.2 million cyber traders are trying to make a fast
buck online, and together they account for almost one-third of
total daily stock transactions on the Seoul Stock Exchange.
The president of the online TNT Club for cyber traders, Cho
Kyu- Man, 33, said: "For many unemployed, cyber-trading has
become a good out-of-work source of income, if they are lucky and
smart enough."
Some young people are now leaving their secure company jobs to
enter the lucrative fray of the information age and become full-
time Internet day-traders.
Many of them prefer the freedom this lifestyle offers to being
locked into stressful corporate life.
The online revolution has spilled over into the realm of Cyber
cafes and Internet-PC game rooms, a mushrooming industry in the
technology-savvy East Asian country.
Within the past year, their number has grown from 3,000
Internet PC rooms to more than 13,000 nationwide.
At a cost of only 5,000 won ($4.20) for a two- or three-hour
stay, these businesses offer fast connections and sophisticated
software that is constantly updated.
An analyst of the Internet Multi-Culture Association said,
"The Internet PC room is a typically Korean success model that
creates some 4 trillion won of market value annually."
Only a year ago, it was mostly students playing video games
who populated the PC rooms.
Now, young company employees-turned-online-traders, aged in
their 20s or 30s, are often seen sitting alongside the teenagers,
browsing through animation sites or chatting by e-mail.
Sensing the potential of these unique new Cyber cafes -- which
are outfitted for both serious work and play -- a group of PC
room businesses have teamed up with 10 local brokerage houses
backing them.
Playing it different
They are "different from other nations' Internet cafes," said
Hur Hyun-June, the marketing leader of Chung-oh Communications
Co, a franchise owner of some 80 PC game rooms nationwide.
"These rooms are operated not only for individual fun, but
also for online business use on high-speed connection networks
such as ADSL or cable TV transmission."
Growth has been so frantic that these Internet rooms are now
the major customers for these high-speed connections from the
nation's largest telephony giant, Korea Telecom and the local
call start-up Hanaro Telecom.
The two telecom companies are now busy installing more ADSL
lines with new equipment from Alcatel of France.
Chung-oh Communications now hopes to export its new success
model across the Sea of Japan.
The company is finalizing talks for a 2:1 joint venture for PC
rooms with one of Japan's top five game development and
distribution companies.
"Something that hits off in Korean usually hits off in Japan,
and vice versa," said Hur. "That is why we are going to launch
the PC rooms in Japan."