SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) announced today that it opened “Barun* ICT Research Center” jointly with Yonsei University to understand and reduce negative effects of ICT.

*Barun is a Korean word for righteous or correct

Established as part of SK Telecom’s Barun ICT Campaign* launched last year to commemorate the company’s 30th anniversary, the Center is tasked with analyzing and resolving social problems that arise with the spread of ICT, including digital divide, ICT addiction and privacy infringement. For instance, the Center will dig deep into the social phenomena driven by digital divide to seek effective measures to bridge the gap; identify psychological causes and problems involved with excessive consumption of digital technology/devices; and conduct researches to find better ways to protect user privacy and build trust in the IoT environment.

* Barun ICT Campaign: Launched in August, 2014, the campaign aims to build a healthy and sound ICT culture by minimizing negative effects of the ICT revolution. The campaign activities include T.um Mobile, Barun ICT Class for Children and Barun ICT Camp for Smartphone-Addicted Youth.

SK Telecom expects Barun ICT Research Center to shape into a world-renowned research center with exceptional strength in mobile. The company said that it will share its accumulated experience and knowledge in mobile with the Center, which will carry out a wide spectrum of mobile-related studies; actively take part in the development of IT solutions and programs; and make efforts to build a healthy ICT culture by participating in the policy-making process.

Furthermore, the Center will actively share its study and research results by hosting a regular academic seminar and participating in national and international conferences. Going forward, it also plans to diversify research areas by joining forces with not only the ICT-related organizations in Korea but also prestigious international ICT research centers including Berkman Center for Internet & Society (Harvard University), Oxford Internet Institute (Oxford University) and Center for Research on Electronic Commerce (University of Texas at Austin).

The opening ceremony for Barun ICT Research Center, held today at Yonsei University, was attended by Jang Dong-hyun, President and CEO of SK Telecom, Jeong Kap-Young, President of Yonsei University, and Kim Beomsoo, Head of Barun ICT Reseach Center.

“ICT – mobile, in particular, - is bringing revolutionary changes to people’s lives. However, at the same time, we are witnessing an increasing number of social problems stemming from excessive or ill use of ICT,” said Jang Dong-hyun, President and CEO of SK Telecom. “As the leading telecommunications company in Korea, I believe that we have a strong responsibility to resolve these problems. Established for this purpose, Barun ICT Research Center will conduct extensive researches to come up with the best solutions.”

“Barun ICT Research Center will work closely with SK Telecom to become a world-class research institute offering policies and opinions that contribute to the creation of positive social values through the use of ICT. Going forward, we will join forces with eminent scholars from universities of both home and abroad, the Korean Government and industry experts to realize a future where ICT-driven benefits are enjoyed by all members of the society,” said Jeong Kap-Young, President of Yonsei University.

About SK Telecom

SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM, KSE: 017670), established in 1984, is Korea’s largest telecommunications company with more than 28 million mobile subscribers, accounting for around 50% of the market. The company reached KRW 17.164 trillion in revenue in 2014. As the world’s first company to commercialize CDMA, CDMA 2000 1x, CDMA EV-DO and HSDPA networks, SK Telecom launched the nation’s first LTE service in July 2011. SK Telecom also became the world’s first mobile carrier to commercialize 150Mbps LTE-Advanced in June 2013 and 225Mbps LTE-Advanced in June 2014 through Carrier Aggregation(CA). In line with its efforts to swiftly move towards the next-generation mobile network system, or 5G, it successfully commercialized 300Mbps tri-band LTE-A CA. As of December 2014, the company has over 16.7 million LTE and LTE-Advanced subscribers. Based on its strength in network operations business, SK Telecom is seeking new growth engines through three innovative platforms namely Lifestyle Enhancement Platform, Advanced Media Platform and IoT Service Platform. For more information, please visit www.sktelecom.com or email to press@sktelecom.com.