Google to set up YouTube channel for Korean pop

SEOUL, South Korea – Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt agreed Monday to set up a YouTube channel exclusively for South Korean pop music, as he began a visit aimed at expanding his company’s presence in the country.

The pledge came when Schmidt met President Lee Myung-Bak, Lee’s office said.

Schmidt agreed to bolster the overseas popularity of South Korean pop by establishing a YouTube channel and also pledged to support Internet start-up firms in South Korea, the office said in a statement.

Lee called for active cooperation between Google and South Korean firms while Schmidt stressed the importance of “an open and global-oriented attitude” in developing the Internet market, the statement said.

Schmidt arrived earlier in the day for talks with local telecommunications and electronics firms, including KT and SK Telecom, as well as the head of the watchdog Korea Communications Commission.

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics uses Google’s Android operating system for its popular Galaxy smartphone series.

The US giant has a 15 percent share of the domestic mobile search market, the third largest after NHN’s Naver and Daum, according to research data released in July.

But its share of South Korea’s entire Internet search market only accounted for 2.4 percent.