The Korea Communications Commission plans to introduce a new Internet domain name system using the Korean alphabet as early as next year.

The state telecom regulator said yesterday that the Korea Internet and Security Agency submitted an application yesterday to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers for international recognition of Korean language domain names.

The ICANN is a non-profit organization that was established in 1998 to keep the Internet secure, stable and interoperable.

The commission also said that the country’s top-level domain, which is currently written as “.kr,” has been confirmed as “.Hanguk” in Korean characters, a shortened term for the Republic of Korea.

The commission said it would launch the new system early next year after completing necessary measures.

“Korean Internet users will enjoy greater convenience with the introduction of Korean-letter domain names for local residents. It will also help the global promotion of the Korean language and marketing activities using it,” said an official at the Internet policy division at the KCC.”

A total of 21 countries using 11 different languages have applied for the local language domain name. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were the first three nations to win final approval to use non-Roman script names on May 5.

In order to make the initial request, the script used to represent the internationalized domain name must be non-Latin and the languages used to express the domain name must be official in the corresponding country or region, according to the ICANN. A specific set of technical requirements must also be met as evaluated by a panel of experts.

Then there are three steps -- preparation, string evaluation and delegation –- before the application can be approved.

Considering that Korea is in the final stage of string evaluation, it is expected to take up to six months to complete the last step, which includes determining the entity which could manage the domain names and selecting the top-level domain, said a KCC official.

By Cho Ji-hyun  (sharon@heraldcorp.com)