Sue Decker, the president of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), announced today that Korea is one of the company's "most important" markets. Decker said that Korea's market growth has been in excess of 20% so far (in past years), and that growth in the next four years will be even stronger than that. That's great news, but Yahoo! must figure out how to monetize more of that growth, which is the perennial problem it has faced in the last few years.

Yahoo!'s global user base is probably the most impressive among all internet destinations or properties, in terms of sheer eyeball or page-view count. Its problem is that it did not keep and manage that growth with an appropriate rise in revenue. Its chief competitor Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) managed to grow its user base at the same time it grew its revenue base with its unique form of advertising.

Yahoo!'s Korean unit, aptly named Yahoo! Korea, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary, and Decker added that the web giant's Korean unit is "certainly is a center of innovation... and we watch this market very closely." But it's time to walk the walk, and prove that Yahoo!'s growth in an important international market can carry the right amount of weight in regards to revenue.

Decker also stated that Yahoo! will continue to support Yahoo! Korea to ensure the division is "striking a good balance between globalizing and localizing." Local flavor is what catches eyeballs and keeps them (which makes for better advertising opportunity), so Yahoo! is clawing up the right tree here. Let's hope that can spread to the company's global operations soon.