"Cyworld has been a trendsetter, spawning a new internet culture in the personal media era, and its success was natural, not accidental," he wrote in The Korea Times in February.

Today, South Korea is the world's most internet connected country. At the end of 2003, more than 11 million households - three quarters of all homes - had broadband access which, according to cable companies, was saturation point. Cyworld got started in 2001 but remained small until 2003 when its popularity exploded.