The South Korean National Internet Development Agency (NIDA) has unleased stats on hapless people worldwide, which show some interesting and some not so interesting things over internet use in Korea, China and Japan. Korea, naturally, excludes North Korea, a place which is dark at night when seen from space and people are so ronery.

Two hundred and ten million people use the China's censored version of the Internet and thus has the highest amount of net users, a fact which is neither new nor tantalising and certainly quite a no-brainer. In Japan, 88 million people surf the internet, whereas 34.8 million do so in South Korea. Korea, however, has the highest penetration of internet users, with 76.3% of the country's population sitting in front of LCD screens scrolling through websites for exciting and stimulating content. In China, by comparison, merely 16% of the population are on the winning side of the digital divide. Japan's penetration rate sums up to 74.4%.

Korea also has the highest amount of broadband users, namely 99.8%. Japan clocks in at third place with 66.1%, whereas 77.8% of Chinese internet users have a broadband subscription.

Instant messenging is very popular in China (81.4%), but email (56.5%) isn't. However, the Japanese seem to be near autistic, as only 48.2% of internetters enjoy typing emails. Korea comes out top with 82.4% emailing netizens.

Internet cafes are most popular in China, where 34% of users log in, compared to 21% in Korea and a mere five percent in Japan. Japanese users seem to prefer the sanctity of their appartments, as 86% peruse the net for used underwear at home. However, the Koreans are the most secretive of the lot, as 96% access the net where no one can have a looksee over their shoulders.

Internet gaming is popular in Korea (62.1%) and China (59.3%), whereas Japanese gamers enjoy sitting around in front of a Playstation or a Nintendo. Only 7.7% of gamers in Japan play over the Internet. X