Insert Bad “iPhone’s Got Seoul” Pun Here

The iPhone made its Korean debut over the weekend and by most accounts it was a success. Hundreds of customers queued up outside the Olympic Stadium in Seoul, some as much as 26 hours in advance, to be among the first to buy the device. And KT, Apple’s (AAPL) carrier partner in the country, said it had received an estimated 65,000 pre-orders by the time the handset officially went on sale Saturday.

Not bad considering that KT only began accepting pre-orders Nov. 22. Priced between $200 and $400 with a two-year contract, the iPhone is clearly resonating with Koreans accustomed to paying upward of $800 for a smartphone.

That’s good news for Apple, because sales of smartphones in Korea are expected to reach about 800,000 units this year and 6.5 million by 2014, according to Hana Daetoo Securities Co. in Seoul.

[Image credit: Naver.com]