Korea Produces First Chairperson for 3GPP Technical Plenary... Secures Influence in 6G Standardization

Yoonseon Kim and Raeyoung Kim Elected as Chairs at 3GPP Technical Plenary
Korea Achieves First-Ever Leadership Roles in 3GPP Technical Plenary
Key 6G Technologies and Research Directions Presented at Incheon Workshop

Photo of the 3GPP 6G international conference. Photo by Ministry of Science and ICT

At the 3GPP technical plenary held in Incheon, Yoonseon Kim, a master at Samsung Electronics, was elected as the chair of the 'Radio Access Network (RAN)' plenary, and Raeyoung Kim, a senior researcher at LG Electronics, was elected as the vice chair of the 'Service and System (SA)' plenary. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 14th that this election marks Korea's first entry into the chair positions of the 3GPP technical plenary.

3GPP is a mobile communication standard development organization jointly established by seven standardization bodies worldwide, including TTA (Telecommunications Technology Association of Korea). It develops standards for WCDMA, LTE, 5G, and is also working on 6G technology standards expected to be commercialized around 2030. This meeting was held in Incheon from March 10 to 14. According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, the 3GPP technical plenary holds voting rights to decide on standard development items, and the chair plays a role in setting directions when resolving disagreements. In particular, the Radio Access Network (RAN) technical plenary covers 70-80% of 3GPP patents.

The term for the elected chairpersons is from June 2025 to March 2029, coinciding with the core period of 6G standardization. Each plenary has one chair and three vice chairs, with a typical term of four years (2+2 years).

To elect the chairpersons, Minister Sang-im Yoo of the Ministry of Science and ICT requested support from major countries and international organizations during the 'Mobile World Congress 2025 (MWC2025)' held earlier this month. He also attended the 3GPP meeting to discuss standardization trends with the chairpersons and global companies.

At the concurrently held 3GPP 6G workshop, core 6G technologies such as AI and cloud native integration, software-based networks, cost-efficient system evolution, and ubiquitous connectivity technologies were presented.

Key research items included the combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and 6G, energy-saving technologies, and 6G standalone mode (SA) architecture emphasized by Korea’s three major mobile carriers, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI). The integration of terrestrial networks (TN) and non-terrestrial networks (NTN) was also included in the initial scope of 6G research.

It was also decided to start research on radio network characteristics to support the upper-mid band (7?24 GHz) currently being developed under the Ministry of Science and ICT’s 6G R&D project.

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