It's a new wave of innovation and creativity.
Recent data shows that in the past five years, there has been a drastic increase in the number of start-up companies in Korea.
In 2006, there were only about 12-thousand start-ups in Korea, but by 2010 there were more than 24-thousand.


[Interview : Kim Jae-hong Josh, Co-founder/CEO
AdByMe] "My team's vision is to create an outstanding product, and ultimately make this world a better place."

27-year-old Kim Jae-hong, also known as Josh amongst his peers, has a social advertising star t-up, and he is part of a growing number of young entrepreneurs, especially in the IT world, who decide against joining major Korean companies in favor of starting their own businesses.


[Interview : Kim Jae-hong Josh, Co-founder/CEO
AdByMe] "Because of my personality and tendency toward leadership, I wanted to do something on my own,.. instead of joining a big company and being told what to do."

Experts say that the catalyst for the rising number of start-ups in Korea has been inspiration from the success stories out of Silicon Valley.


[Reporter : Connie Lee
connie@arirang.co.kr] "In the past two years, dozens of incubators have emerged in Korea. And incubators like this one, called Seoul Space, help entrepreneurs connect with others in the industry and with global investors."

David Lee, one of the co-founders of Seoul Spacethe first Silicon Valley-inspired incubator in the nation, says that there is great potential for the next Mark Zuckerberg to emerge from Korea.

[Interview : David Lee, Co-founder
Seoul Space] "It's just a matter of time before the next huge start-up company emerges from Korea. I think this is just the beginning of a wave of big companies coming out of Korea that we're witnessing. It'll be very exciting."

He adds that major Korean companies now recognize the need for innovation and the potential of start-ups to generate new sources of revenue -- prompting the companies to either invest in or acquire start-up firms.

[Interview : David Lee, Co-founder
Seoul Space] "The ecosystem is changing, it's more positive for start-ups, at least for today-- and I think that'll increase over time, as long as the environment is safe for them to do so, more people will shift in that direction."

Connie Lee, Arirang News.

Reporter : connie@arirang.co.kr