Unified keypads sought for two Koreas

The ruling Grand National Party is mulling unifying the keypad layouts for cellular phones used by South and North Koreans amid media reports that China is working on the international standardization of the Korean keyboards for mobiledevices.

The reports have prompted public angst here with many calling on the government and relevant companies to quickly standardize the vernacular keyboard layouts to prevent the situation where Koreans are forced to use the standard created by China.

To enhance communication among its nationals, China has reportedly been working on standardizing keyboard systems for the languages of the 56 ethnic minorities in its territory, including the Korean-Chinese whose number is estimated at 2-3 million. 

“Our companies and government organizations should quickly standardize the way we key in Hangeul (the Korean alphabet). National interest should focus on unifying the keyboards used by the Korean-Chinese, and South and North Koreans,” said GNP secretary-general Rep. Won Hee-ryong during the party’s Supreme Council meeting.

For personal computers, South Korea has used only one keyboard standard, which was adopted as the national standard in 1985. However, for mobile phones, each company has different systems, making handset users undergo difficulty getting used to a new system when changing new phones.