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Early last year, Locus Corp., a telecom solution provider, drew investment from Jardin Fleming Electra of the British Fleming Group, which evaluated Locus stock at 130,000 won per share, 26 times face value, and invested $16 million in the firm.

At the time, Jardin Fleming attached a condition before injecting its money into the venture firm: Locus should get listed on the U.S. over-the-counter NASDAQ within two years, bypassing Korea's KOSDAQ stock market.

Yet Locus got listed on KOSDAQ last December, pulling off the second highest initial stock price of 28,000 won, which is 56 times face value.

Locus President and CEO Kim Hyung-soon said the company had not planned to join KOSDAQ, at least initially.

``Locus has long been preparing for the NASDAQ listing and the process is still going on. Considering the overall situation, the optimal listing on NASDAQ for Locus ill be in the second half of 2001,'' Kim said.

As for Locus, the things are relatively favorable. Its stock on KOSDAQ is one f the favorite choices for foreign investors, due to its technological edge.

According to Kim, Locus is carving out about 40 percent market share in the CTI (computer-telephone integration), a call center system upon which programs like voicemail and automatic call distribution systems are based.

With its high-powered technological base that is outpacing global players, Locus is expected to make it to NASDAQ as scheduled.

But other Korean venture companies are yet to secure such footing. For instanc , TriGem Computer Co., a leading computer maker, attracted domestic investors last year when its U.S. sales subsidiary eMachines was known to get listed on the NASDAQ stock market.

TriGem Computer and Korea Data Systems launched eMachines in the U.S. and created a boom of low-priced PCs, a factor that fueled the speculation about the NASDAQ listing and a positive valuation.

But eMachines is not listed on NASDAQ at this point although industry observer said the company's performance in the market meets the requirement for the listing.

In the meantime, Korean Internet startups noticed the magic of the plan for the NASDAQ listing, regardless of its actual chances.

Venture entrepreneurs are likely to mention the ``N'' word whenever they are g ven a chance in an interview with a media, boasting off their superior commercial p ssibility, even though the plausibility remains arguable at best.

Cti Semiconductor Corp., a telecom equipment maker, repeatedly revealed its intention to debut on NASDAQ and yet failed to do so, with its stock price riding a roller coaster.

Ace Technology, a KOSDAQ-listed telecom gear maker, did not went so far as Cti, but its alleged plan for NASDAQ listing is constantly leaking out.

Bioneer Corp., a medical equipment maker, recently gave up on the NASDAQ listing. The venture firm had pushed for NASDAQ for about six months, closely cooperating with NASDAQ experts in the U.S. but the issue turned out to be intractable.

Bioneer first found it hard to submit all the documents specified by NASDAQ Stock Market Inc., which called for stricter accounting practices. To tackle the issue indirectly, Bioneer attempted to take over a company which was listed on NASDAQ but the Korean laws blocked such method.

Despite the daunting challenges, the fever for NASDAQ is unlikely to cool down for a while.

Thrunet, a cable-based Internet service operator, made it to the NASDAQ market last year, the first ever formal listing by a Korean firm. Thrunet's feat instantly rew keen interest from the media, which enticed and encouraged other venture firms.

Mirae Corp., a semiconductor equipment maker, Daum Communications Corp., a leading e-mail portal, and Prochips are moving towards the NASDAD listing.

Meanwhile, KOSDAQ Stock Market Inc., which is operating KOSDAQ, is active in floating the notion of attracting foreign firms into KOSDAQ listing.

KOSDAQ Stock Market plans to stage a road show and investor relations sessions around May this year in a bid to attract foreign direct investment and woo foreign companies into the KOSDAQ listing.

The road show will be held in major cities in the U.S., Europe and Asia, with oreign branches of stock brokerage firms joining the investment sessions.

KOSDAQ ranks the 14th in the world's stock market in terms of transaction size and 30th in the total valuation, a fact that is pushing the KOSDAQ officials to toy with the idea of nurturing an inflow of foreign firms.