Full-Scale Launch of Quantum Cryptography Communication Pilot Project... Follow-Up Measures After Korea-US Summit

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 25th that it will actively promote the ‘Quantum Cryptography Communication Infrastructure Pilot Construction’ targeting 15 institutions in 2021 to support the activation of the quantum industry ecosystem, a future core technology.

Quantum information communication is a future core technology attracting global attention. At the Korea-US summit on the 21st, it was agreed to expand cooperation in technology development and personnel exchange in the quantum field (communication, sensors, computing, etc.) between the two countries.

In particular, unlike other quantum technologies, quantum cryptography communication is undergoing relatively rapid early commercialization. The government plans to use this pilot project as the first follow-up measure of the Korea-US quantum information communication cooperation agenda to foster quantum industry competitiveness and serve as a foundation for exchanges and a virtuous cycle ecosystem between the industries and research communities of both countries in the future.

The Quantum Cryptography Communication Kick-off Meeting, hosted by Cho Kyung-sik, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, was attended by demand institutions, telecommunications operators, and equipment manufacturers to discuss the promotion plan of the quantum cryptography communication project and public-private cooperation measures to activate Korea-US quantum cryptography communication exchanges.

The quantum cryptography communication pilot project aims to demonstrate quantum-related technologies such as quantum cryptography communication, quantum random number generators, and quantum-resistant cryptography in the private and public sectors and to discover application services for market activation. A total of 29 billion KRW will be invested from 2020 to 2021.

Last year, as a pilot project, it was applied in 16 fields including secure communication services for military-government cooperation (Navy 3rd Fleet, Jeonnam Provincial Office) and patient medical information delivery services for actual expense insurance processing (Yonsei Medical Center, etc.). Based on this, from this year, quantum cryptography communication has been applied to the ‘Next-Generation National Convergence Network (Ministry of the Interior and Safety)’ project connecting 48 government ministries, achieving significant results.

This year, 19 services will be developed and demonstrated at 15 demand institutions including public institution administration and facility security (Daejeon City Hall, Daejeon Waterworks Headquarters, Water Purification Plant) and remote medical cooperation between medical institutions (Soonchunhyang University Hospital Seoul and Bucheon).

Specifically, the SK Broadband consortium will encrypt security information such as billing and intrusion detection information using quantum random number generators (QRNG) at the Daejeon Waterworks Headquarters and then securely transmit it via quantum cryptography communication (QKD). The KT consortium will encrypt security information such as drone footage from the Ground Operations Command (2nd Corps) and medical information from Soonchunhyang University Hospital using quantum keys and then utilize QKD. The LG Uplus consortium will also apply a new cryptographic algorithm, quantum-resistant cryptography (PQC), to encrypt security information such as reservation and access information and transmit it through existing networks.

The Ministry of Science and ICT will support security verification to enhance the performance and reliability of quantum cryptography communication equipment used in the pilot project and will publish a ‘Comprehensive Guide to the Construction and Operation of Quantum Cryptography Communication Pilot Infrastructure’ summarizing past demonstration cases in public, medical, and industrial sectors to facilitate easy adoption of quantum cryptography communication by various demand institutions in the future.

Vice Minister Cho emphasized, “Quantum technology is a key technology that will determine future technological hegemony, and it is very encouraging that cooperation between the two countries in technology development and human resource training was included in the recent Korea-US summit. Going forward, we need to expand cooperation between the two countries through more active investment and efforts.”

He added, “While actively promoting technology development in the quantum field, we will also actively derive excellent pilot cases that can be utilized in the market through this project to support the creation of an ecosystem where the quantum industry can expand beyond laboratories into the industrial sector.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.