Apple has seen about 60,000 units of iPhones sold in South Korea on its debut on Saturday, which is pretty good as the nation has already reported 400,000 smartphones sales in the third quarter.

The number, though far away from the one million sales in the U.S. for the iPhone 3GS, has already been a great success compared to the estimated 5,000 units sold during the first week in China.

The handset is available through KT Corp, the second largest carrier in Korea.

We're hoping that this iPhone will be a trigger point for the smartphone market in Korea, Yang Hyun-mi, KT's chief strategy officer, wascited as saying. Hyun-mi also noted that smartphones only control one percent of the mobile market in the nation.

KT priced the 32-gigabyte iPhone 3GS at 369,000 won ($317) for customers subscribing to monthly plans based on the basic rate of 45,000 won ($38). Subscribers paying 65,000 won ($56) in basic rates can have the iPhone for 264,000 won ($227), while premium users signing up for monthly plans based on a 132,000 won ($113) basic rate could have the phones for free.

The 8-gigabtye iPhones were priced at 132,000 won ($113) for subscribers signed on the 45,000 won ($38) monthly plans.

As iPhone made its formal debut in China on October 30 through China Unicom, South Korea is one of the last major countries in Asia to get the iPhone which is also on sale in Japan, India and Australia.

South Korea used to be dominated by the local cell phone makers Samsung and LG due to the strict government regulations to foreign makers.

China South Korea Apple Electronics