China.org.cn, a Beijing-based news and information website, and South Korea's The Daily Naeil Co., Ltd announced the launch of china.org.cn's Korean service (korean.china.org.cn) at a press conference in Beijing today. The Korean service brings the number of languages that china.org.cn operates in to 10. Services are already available in Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Russian, German, Arabic, and Esperanto.

The press conference, held at the State Council Information Office, was attended by Cai Mingzhao, vice minister of the State Council Information Office; Song Seung Yup, Republic of Korea (ROK) envoy to China; State Council Information Office officials; representatives from publishing houses and magazines under the China International Publishing Group; heads of major central and Beijing news websites; journalists from leading domestic media; executives from some of the ROK's biggest enterprises; the head of the Korean Chamber of Commerce; and leaders from china.org.cn and The Daily Naeil.

Huang Youyi, president of china.org.cn, and Jang Myung Gook, chairman of the board of directors of The Daily Naeil, delivered speeches at the event.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations on August 24, 1992, China and the ROK have cooperated in many fields. Relations have improved tremendously over the years, and more South Koreans choose to do business, study, travel, and live in China. As a result, demand for information on China has increased rapidly.

And what better way to provide that information than through the Internet, quickly and in real time? Telecommunications services in the ROK are so highly developed that almost every Korean has access to the Internet.

The decision to develop a Korean service providing comprehensive up-to-date news and information about China in authentic Korean was made after more than a year's research and discussion.

The Korean service includes columns such as the "News" section, which carries latest international and China news reports; the ��Know China�� column, which lists key facts and data on China, as well as other special interest columns such as ��Travel��, ��Health�� and ��Korean Fashion��.

According to the cooperation agreement, the material to be used is compiled and edited by china.org.cn. It is then transferred to the editorial and translation department of The Daily Naeil for translating into Korean before the material is posted on the website.

China.org.cn was established in 2000. It is a key national news website under the auspices of the State Council Information Office and is managed by China International Publishing Group. Over the last five years, china.org.cn, with its multi-lingual services, has become an important source of information on China for readers in 214 countries and regions.

The Daily Naeil Co., Ltd. is an emerging media group that was set up in 1993. Its main business was a weekly magazine, which then became a daily newspaper in 2000. The Daily Naeil is now one of the ROK's major national newspapers with 24 localized weeklies. In 2005, The Daily Naeil was named the most profitable and fastest growing newspaper in the ROK, overtaking the No.1 daily, The Chosunilbo.