BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: The United States is not the only country where businesses and markets have come to depend on so-called e-commerce. Our CNN Seoul bureau chief Sohn Jie-Ae reports.</s>SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Park Sang-Hyo spends many afternoons sitting in front of a terminal, like this one at an online trading room. It's a habit he's acquired since joining South Korea's fast-growing pool of online stock investors. "I can trade my stocks from anywhere there is a computer, he says, and plus, it's cheaper to trade this way." Drastically lower commissions and convenience are two of the reasons behind the popularity of online trading in South Korea. With nearly half of all securities trading done online, the country has the highest penetration rate in the world. Securities companies have beefed up online trading staff and Internet brokerage sites are popping up. The rapid growth of online trading is giving people reason to be concerned about the very real possibility of hackers bringing the transactions to a halt. After hackers disrupted such well-known Internet sites as Yahoo! and Amazon.com, South Korea's ministry of communication called an emergency meeting to discuss ways to prevent the same thing from happening here.</s>CHUN SUNG-BAE, MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATION: We consider the situation very serious. From the standpoint of possible victims, it's a serious crime, and we are in the process of putting into effect serious countermeasures.</s>JIE-AE: Park has so far not fallen victim to such attacks, but he says the government should do everything possible to make sure the systems are safe. (on camera): Government officials and Internet companies say they're doing everything they can to stay one step ahead. But with so many Koreans trading on the Internet, many question whether any measure will completely eliminate the risk. Sohn Jie-Ae, CNN, Seoul.
Concerns in Seoul About Hacker Attacks Affecting E-Commerce