On the 23rd of June, SK Telecom held the 2004 Internet Search Contest for physically challenged youth in the Convention Hall of COEX.

In this contest, disabled students from 138 special schools nationwide, had a chance to demonstrate their skill and ability to function, in cyber space. After two online preliminary screening matches among students of 88 special schools, 250 students from 125 teams were selected to compete in the final match. The final match is divided into four categories. These are: hearing impairment, physical disabilities, visual disabilities and the mentally-handicapped.

The SK Telecom Internet Search Contest for physically challenged youth has been held for six consecutive years since the year 1999. A total of 162 winners have emerged from final matches that involved 1,382 disabled students from the 691 teams that have participated during the six years. The contest is now designated as an official activity in "the Month of Information and Culture" sponsored by the Ministry of information and Communication. This establishes it as a crucial information communication activity that helps disabled youth overcome the digital divide that faces those people on the margins of society who often become left out of the information loop.

An SK Telecom official said "We made questions with special Braille for the visual disabilities teams, and sign language for the hearing impairment teams. We also prepared large-sized LCD monitors for the weak-sighted visual disabilities teams".

The company introduced and installed written character reading programs for complete visual disabilities students for the first time this year. For the mentally-handicapped students, SK Telecom posed specially differentiated questions designed to increase the fairness and credibility of the contest.

Based on the results of the scoring, the company will select sixteen teams for Grand, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Prizes, and award a total of 23.2 million won in scholarships to them. In addition, overseas training programs will be offered to winners of the Grand Prize and Golden Prize, as well as to their teachers. Moreover, the latest in PCs will be donated to the special schools of winners.

Shin Bae Kim, president of SK Telecom, commented in his welcoming speech, "Disability no longer exists in our 21st century information and knowledge-based society. We hope that all physically challenged youth will enhance their competitiveness, and create a great deal of enthusiasm and interest in developing their potential capabilities through this contest".

After the ceremony for the awarding of prizes, a variety of additional events will be offered to all participants. These include "My Own Cyworld Homepage Making" event, "Digital Camera Photo" contest, professional gamers’ (T1) network game demonstration, dance performances of Turtles and B-Boy dance teams, as well as other recreation and entertainment.