The Global Cooperation Division of the 6G R&D Strategy Committee held a meeting with the Japan's B5GPC International Committee. The meeting was attended by B5G/6G international cooperation experts, who discussed the history of Korea-Japan 5G cooperation, 6G cooperation plans, and the current status of 6G R&D between the two countries.   <Meeting overview> 1. Date/time: May 13, 2022(Fri), 15:00~16:00 2. Meeting method: Online meeting 3. Participants: 12 participants including the Head of Division (Hyeon-wool Lee, Professor, Dankook University) and the Vice-chairman of the international Committee of B5GPC (KOTARO Kuwazu, NRI*)   *NRI: Nomura Research Institute. It is the Japan’s leading private think tank, and serves as the secretariat of B5GPC. 4. Result  - Japan's B5G is actively engaged in activities such as signing MoUs with Europe's 6GIA, and hopes to establish a similar cooperative relationship with Korea.  - The Global Cooperation Division proposed establishing an interactive channel (hosting workshops and implementing joint R&D projects, etc.) to handle B5G5/6G strategic issues.. 

A kick-off meeting was held by the Global Cooperation Division of the 6G R&D Strategy Committee.   The agenda of this meeting included the background of the establishment of the 6G R&D Strategy Committee and the Global Cooperation Division.   <Meeting overview> 1. Date/time: Dec. 15, 2021(Wed), 10:00~12:00 2. Meeting method: Online meeting 3. Participants: 10 participants including the Head of Division (Hyeon-wool Lee, Professor, Dankook University) 4. Result  - The Global Cooperation Division is a kind of exploration division, which has created an action plan for 6G-related achievements and plans in Korea, and plans to share information with other countries on their 6G-related policies (North America-NGA, Europe-6G SNS IA, China-IMT-2030PG, Japan-B5GPC, Others-Taiwan/India).  - Regarding 6G, the division is evaluating joint tasks with the United States, which requires consultation and expert review on the merits of each country's joint research (before international joint research).  - The mission of the Global Cooperation Division is considered to be the planning and consultation on joint research with foreign countries and the 6G promotion. 

In January, the Ministry of Science and ICT held a forum on the direction of the 'next-generation network development strategy' to take the lead in the competition for future network technologies such as 6G beyond 5G and satellite communication.   The government plans to begin to establish a 'next-generation network development strategy' that comprehensively contains a future vision to become the world's best network innovator by accelerating the development of advanced technologies such as 5G Advanced, 6G, open LAN, and quantum communication.   In addition, the government announced in March that it would invest 251.3 billion Korean Won to create national standards for digital transformation and carbon neutrality, including 6G, autonomous vehicles, and renewable energy, which shows that the Ministry of Science and ICT is speeding up securing digital innovation such as AI and 6G.Also, MSIT operated the 6G Strategy Committee, and started developing core technologies worth 220 billion Korean Won for five years since last year. The new government is expected to push ahead with the policies related to low-orbit satellite communication for 6G, 6G PPP, and O-RAN. More details can be found in the 'New Government's National Strategy for the Food Sector'.   The core of the new government, which is about to be launched, is a digital national strategy centered on 6G mobile communication and AI, and accordingly, the new government aims to demonstrate 6G communication technology for the first time in the world in 2026.   In addition, to strengthen competitiveness in the mobility field, the new government announced the commercialization of fully autonomous vehicles and commercialization of urban air transportation.     

LG U+ has started to verify the key antenna technology required to implement the 6G mobile communication. This technology, called RIS, is a smart antenna that can provide transmission or reflection effects according to the received radio wave characteristics. In order to implement 6G, this RIS technology is essential because it requires a very high frequency in the THz band, which has never been used in mobile communication.   This technology is a kind of intelligent technology that transmits the base station signals to the inside of buildings and helps to bypass obstacles. It is expected that higher quality communication services will be provided in urban and indoor spaces with many obstacles.   LG U+ has been collaborating with various companies such as Nokia on the 6G RIS technologies since last year. Sang-heon Lee, LG U+ NW Advance Development Manager, said, "If the actual usability of RIS is verified, it is expected to be used not only for 6G but also for 5G quality improvement." The telecommunications industry around the world is focusing on RIS technology and making all-out efforts to secure 6G leadership. For example, NTT DoCoMo, a Japanese telecommunications company, has also announced plans to improve indoor coverage based on RIS.   

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are spurring the development of 6G technology, which is expected to be commercialized in 2028. Since the establishment of the Next-Generation Communication Research Center under Samsung Research in 2019, Samsung Electronics has been conducting researches on 6G prior technologies, and is working hard not to lose its leadership in 6G by meeting with the CEO of US Verizon. In addition, Samsung Electronics and Korea University are planning to proactively foster professionals who will lead the telecommunications market by linking the 'next-generation communications department' that deals with next-generation communications technologies, including 6G, to employment of electric and electronic engineers.   LG Electronics has the core technology of 6G mobile communication, such as being the first in the world to successfully transmit communication signals over 100m in a straight line outdoors using the 6GHz frequency band. LG Electronics established a 6G research center jointly with KAIST in 2019, and was selected as the chairman of ‘NGA’ organized by the American Telecommunications Industry Association (ATIS). In NGA, LG Electronics is in charge of discovering 6G use cases and establishing related technical requirements.   Korea's three major telecommunication companies, SKT, KT, and LGU+, are also actively conducting R&D to prepare for the 6G era, and are also collaborating with companies. SKT is conducting R&D on major 6G technologies in partnership with Samsung Electronics, Nokia, and Ericsson, and KT is researching 6G technologies with Seoul National University's New Media and Communication Research Center. LGU+ is working on national projects with ETRI, KAIST, and LG Electronics to develop 6G technologies.