en.Wedoany.com Reported - On May 6, 2026, South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) announced a significant expansion of its national Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) pilot conversion project, extending it from last year's energy, medical, and administrative sectors to five critical national infrastructure areas: telecommunications, finance, transportation, national defense, and aerospace. This move signifies that South Korea is systematically migrating its core national information systems to next-generation cryptographic frameworks capable of resisting quantum attacks, in response to the "harvest now, decrypt later" threat posed by quantum computers.

This expanded pilot project is jointly led by the MSIT and the Korea Internet & Security Agency. The core objective of the project is to analyze potential technical issues and solutions during the practical application of PQC, and to develop replicable pilot models for conversion procedures, laying the groundwork for a future nationwide migration of cryptographic systems. Post-quantum cryptography is a suite of next-generation encryption technologies built on complex mathematical structures such as lattices and hashes. Its computational complexity far exceeds that of current mainstream public-key cryptography systems and is specifically designed to withstand decryption by future mature quantum computers.

For this expansion, the MSIT selected five highly representative specialized institutions to lead the PQC pilot conversion in each key sector. In the telecommunications field, the South Korean information security company Dream Security is responsible for applying PQC to the National Science and Technology Research Network. This network is a national backbone connecting over 200 major research institutions in South Korea, carrying large-scale R&D data transmissions. Dream Security, founded in 1998, is an information security company specializing in public key infrastructure, authentication, and post-quantum cryptography solutions.

In the financial sector, KSmartech will handle the PQC pilot conversion of Hana Card's credit card payment infrastructure. KSmartech is a South Korean tech company focused on digital identity authentication and passwordless security solutions. In the transportation sector, Mobilitus will undertake the task of piloting PQC in the Pangyo Zero City next-generation intelligent transportation system, which is jointly operated by Gyeonggi Province and the Korea Road Traffic Authority.

In the national defense sector, Daeyoung S-Tek is responsible for the security upgrade of the Ministry of National Defense's Smart Unit Integration Platform. In the aerospace sector, a consortium led by KSign, a leader in South Korea's security field, will advance the PQC conversion of Contec's satellite communication infrastructure. Founded in 1999, KSign is a leader in South Korea's information security sector with deep expertise in authentication and cryptographic technologies and has already begun developing post-quantum cryptography solutions.

Alongside the expansion of the pilot scope, the South Korean government has simultaneously launched several supporting projects. On the same day, the MSIT announced the initiation of a new core technology R&D project for post-quantum cryptography, aimed at developing the fundamental core technologies required for PQC conversion. Furthermore, the government plans to expand the quantum testbed, previously concentrated in the Seoul-Pangyo-Daejeon corridor, nationwide, while also advancing the R&D of next-generation satellite quantum communication technology. This series of measures indicates that South Korea is accelerating its national roadmap to fully transition to PQC systems by 2035.

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