by Paik Seung-jae (whitesj@chosun.com)

Top IT firms in Korea have been aggressively seeking new alliances. Microsoft (MS) Korea signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday with NCsoft, the nation's largest on-line game operator. Under the deal, MS Korea is to provide NCsoft's games on its chatting program, MSN Messenger 6.0. According to MS Korea, the messenger program has about 7 million members, for staggering 75 percent market share.

An official at MS Korea said that MSN Messenger's market share would snowball when the program offers NCsoft's popular games.

On Wednesday, Sony Computer Entertainment Korea (SCEK), a game developer, tied up with KT Corp., Korea's largest telecommunications firm. Under the alliance, KT plans to market its wireless LAN gear, called NESPOT, with SCEK's Playstation games in one package.

Ncsoft, however, is still the most frenetic deal-maker. The firm signed a pact with Samsung Electronics on June 27 to give Samsung exclusive marketing rights to PCs that use NCsoft's new game, Lineage II.