S. Korea to open more free Wi-Fi zones

The government said Wednesday that it plans to provide more free wireless Internet access zones across the country in an effort to become a "Wifi mecca."

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, a panel comprised of some 25 officials from the government, academia and telecom industry will discuss ways to build more free WiFi zones, giving citizens better access to the Internet for their portable devices.

The ministry said it plans to add such zones in various public locations, including bus terminals, hospitals and post offices.

"The public and private sectors can cooperate actively in expanding Wifi zones so as to provide free Wifi service to the people," said Jeon Sung-baek, an ICT official, adding that the plan could even create jobs in other areas, such as mobile advertising in the long term.

President Moon Jae-in's policy advisory panel, the State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee, earlier announced that it will be adding more free Wifi zones in some 200,000 public spots across the country starting next year, in line with its policy to reduce expenditures on telecommunication.

In 2012, the government adopted the system to operate the zones where people can access the WiFi zones for free by selecting public WiFi as their wireless network and then logging in through a user authentication system is operated by the country's three mobile carriers.