Korea has long been using 3-level domain structure "yourname.co.kr" / .or.kr / .ne.kr, etc. (like the U.K. or Japan), but it has recently opened 2nd level domain namespace like "yourname.kr".
The schedule is
- The Sunrise I and II period are now over, which were for the government entities and those already have the same name in the 3rd level name space.
- The Landrush period will start in a couple of weeks, which is for those who don't already have the name on 3rd level, but want to reserve a name before it becomes available as a first-come-first-served basis (Currently, registrars are accepting applications).
Now, I am listing some things that may be of interest to you.
[Local presence requirement / Registrar / Price]
Local presence requirement applies (not only local address, but also either Korean SSN or Korean business registration number), but I am 100% sure than you can easily find a registrar who is willing to use their business reg. number and address on behalf of their customers. It is not a big deal. They may request some extra charge for this individual service, which I am not sure.
But, one of the problems is that it will be hard to find any information written in English, and hard to find an English-speaking staff at any domain registrars (but they will understand written English.).
Many Korean web-based online payment systems automatically reject all foreign-issued credit cards (a brutal way to avoid scams), so I had to contact them by email and send my credit card information to them by email so that they can process the payment manually.
The biggest domain registrars in Korea are Whois (www.whois.co.kr) and Gabia (www.gabia.com). Both of them are more focused on corporate markets rather than individual domainers. They charge higher fees (USD $20-40), while some smaller registrars charge around $15.
I found some information written in English from Gabia web site (they charge $35 for domain registration)
http://www.kr-domain-registration.com/kr_krdomain2nd_01.php
They say that if you do not have a local address, you can email them to ask for help!!
There are less expensive registrars that are more preferred by individual domainers, e.g. CyPack (www.cypack.com), iNames (www.inames.co.kr), and BlueWeb (www.blueweb.co.kr) to name a few.
[Why .KR domain?]
South Korea is the world's 11th largest economy, and it has 34,000,000 internet users. I believe this explains more than enough for the question of "why .KR domain". South Korea's local domain after market is hot. You can easily find a number of domains being sold every week at very high prices (mostly ".com" and ".co.kr"). As a ccTLD, .kr is one of the strongest ccTLDs. Many people predict that the Korean Nic will soon change their policy and open the registration to everyone (eliminating the local presence requirement). Once that happens, .kr will become one of the major league ccTLDs players like .de and .co.uk, etc.
[What to consider?]
Many good domains have already been taken. The market is very different from those of English-speaking world, and you have to be careful about what words are desired and what words are not.
For instance, "poker" is not the most played game. Instead, Korean people play "gostop". So, I guess "gostop" (or "go-stop") must be better keyword than "poker" for the local market.
Adult keywords may not likely work well, as the local adult site owners tend to prefer to take obscure names like "ssssssssexxxxxx.com" for their adult sites (they open the site, take some profit, and then quickly close the site).
[2nd and 3rd level]
The new 2nd level ".kr" has a great potential, because it is simpler than ".co.kr".
The 3rd level co.kr has long been serving as the No. 2 TLD after ".com". I believe that "co.kr" will still play an important role even after ".kr" will be widely used.
Other 3rd level names like "or.kr", "ne.kr", "re.kr" can never be a good investment. They will not likely sell. Don't register them if you want to sell it. But, if you want to build a personal web site on a great keyword domain, they can be good choice, as top keywords are still available in these second level TLDs. For instance, in the "re.kr" space (used to be only for government-owned research labs, but now anyone can register) still had "computer.re.kr" available a couple of months ago, which I registered planning to build a personal blog.
[2-characher and 3-character names]
For 2nd level ".kr", the minimum length is 3-character. So, 2 letter names cannot be registered.
For 3nd level like ".co.kr" or ".or.kr", the minimum length is 2-character. All 2-character names in ".co.kr" have been taken. There is no hope that some are dropped and become available. Many 2-letter names are available on ".or.kr" / ".ne.kr" / ".re.kr", etc. but they will not likely sell.
I hope you find this helpful.
The schedule is
- The Sunrise I and II period are now over, which were for the government entities and those already have the same name in the 3rd level name space.
- The Landrush period will start in a couple of weeks, which is for those who don't already have the name on 3rd level, but want to reserve a name before it becomes available as a first-come-first-served basis (Currently, registrars are accepting applications).
Now, I am listing some things that may be of interest to you.
[Local presence requirement / Registrar / Price]
Local presence requirement applies (not only local address, but also either Korean SSN or Korean business registration number), but I am 100% sure than you can easily find a registrar who is willing to use their business reg. number and address on behalf of their customers. It is not a big deal. They may request some extra charge for this individual service, which I am not sure.
But, one of the problems is that it will be hard to find any information written in English, and hard to find an English-speaking staff at any domain registrars (but they will understand written English.).
Many Korean web-based online payment systems automatically reject all foreign-issued credit cards (a brutal way to avoid scams), so I had to contact them by email and send my credit card information to them by email so that they can process the payment manually.
The biggest domain registrars in Korea are Whois (www.whois.co.kr) and Gabia (www.gabia.com). Both of them are more focused on corporate markets rather than individual domainers. They charge higher fees (USD $20-40), while some smaller registrars charge around $15.
I found some information written in English from Gabia web site (they charge $35 for domain registration)
http://www.kr-domain-registration.com/kr_krdomain2nd_01.php
They say that if you do not have a local address, you can email them to ask for help!!
There are less expensive registrars that are more preferred by individual domainers, e.g. CyPack (www.cypack.com), iNames (www.inames.co.kr), and BlueWeb (www.blueweb.co.kr) to name a few.
[Why .KR domain?]
South Korea is the world's 11th largest economy, and it has 34,000,000 internet users. I believe this explains more than enough for the question of "why .KR domain". South Korea's local domain after market is hot. You can easily find a number of domains being sold every week at very high prices (mostly ".com" and ".co.kr"). As a ccTLD, .kr is one of the strongest ccTLDs. Many people predict that the Korean Nic will soon change their policy and open the registration to everyone (eliminating the local presence requirement). Once that happens, .kr will become one of the major league ccTLDs players like .de and .co.uk, etc.
[What to consider?]
Many good domains have already been taken. The market is very different from those of English-speaking world, and you have to be careful about what words are desired and what words are not.
For instance, "poker" is not the most played game. Instead, Korean people play "gostop". So, I guess "gostop" (or "go-stop") must be better keyword than "poker" for the local market.
Adult keywords may not likely work well, as the local adult site owners tend to prefer to take obscure names like "ssssssssexxxxxx.com" for their adult sites (they open the site, take some profit, and then quickly close the site).
[2nd and 3rd level]
The new 2nd level ".kr" has a great potential, because it is simpler than ".co.kr".
The 3rd level co.kr has long been serving as the No. 2 TLD after ".com". I believe that "co.kr" will still play an important role even after ".kr" will be widely used.
Other 3rd level names like "or.kr", "ne.kr", "re.kr" can never be a good investment. They will not likely sell. Don't register them if you want to sell it. But, if you want to build a personal web site on a great keyword domain, they can be good choice, as top keywords are still available in these second level TLDs. For instance, in the "re.kr" space (used to be only for government-owned research labs, but now anyone can register) still had "computer.re.kr" available a couple of months ago, which I registered planning to build a personal blog.
[2-characher and 3-character names]
For 2nd level ".kr", the minimum length is 3-character. So, 2 letter names cannot be registered.
For 3nd level like ".co.kr" or ".or.kr", the minimum length is 2-character. All 2-character names in ".co.kr" have been taken. There is no hope that some are dropped and become available. Many 2-letter names are available on ".or.kr" / ".ne.kr" / ".re.kr", etc. but they will not likely sell.
I hope you find this helpful.
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