Korean carriers barred from signing up new customers

This sorta bites if you really, really need to sign up for service over there, but the South Korean government's Ministry of Information and Communication has issued a temporary ban on the cellphone carriers there from signing up new customers. The ban, which lasts 40 days for SK Telecom and 30 days each for KTF and LG Telecom, is being put in place to punish the carriers for "illegal handset subsidies" (whatever that means — usually we dig carriers picking up the tab for new phones) and to force them to focus on improving their networks for the customers they already have.