Yeom Heung-yeol, ITU-T SG17 International Chair, Concludes Term Elevating K-DID and K-Security Status

The Korea Digital Certification Association (President Ki-Hyuk Lee) announced that Professor Emeritus Heung-Yeol Yeom of Soonchunhyang University (Association Advisory Chairman) is scheduled to successfully complete his term as the international chair of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector Study Group 17 on Information Security (ITU-T SG17) in October. During his tenure, Professor Yeom has significantly contributed to enhancing Korea's international standing in cybersecurity and digital certification as the SG17 international chair for the past eight years.

ITU-T SG17 is a specialized study group within ITU-T responsible for international standardization of information security, including digital identity management. It develops international standards in information security fields such as cybersecurity and network security and actively promotes global information security standardization activities. Notably, it is the group that developed the ITU-T X.509 international standard, a widely used international standard for the public key infrastructure in the digital certification field.

Chairman Heung-Yeol Yeom was first elected as the ITU-T SG17 international chair in 2016 at the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-16) held in Hammamet, Tunisia, marking the first time for Korea and Asia. He completed his first four-year term in March 2022 and was re-elected at the 2022 World Standards Assembly (WTSA-20) held in Geneva, Switzerland. According to ITU-T regulations, which do not allow more than two terms for the same position, he is expected to conclude his term as SG17 international chair at the World Standards Assembly (WTSA-24) in New Delhi, India, in October 2024.

Over the past eight years, Chairman Yeom has made numerous contributions to international standardization in security and digital certification both domestically and internationally. Notably, at the March 2023 SG17 meeting in Geneva, the new standardization project on “Software Supply Chain Security” (X.st-ssc), proposed by the Soonchunhyang University team led by Chairman Yeom, was adopted. In September 2023, the new standardization project on “Security Requirements for Artificial Intelligence Systems” (X.sr-ai) was also adopted at the SG17 meeting. Furthermore, at the March 2024 SG17 meeting in Geneva, the new standardization project on “Zero Trust High-Level Model and Security Capabilities” (X.ztmc), proposed by the Soonchunhyang University team led by Chairman Yeom, was adopted with support from major countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, and China.

As the advisory chairman of the Korea Digital Certification Association, Chairman Yeom plans to lead domestic and international standardization efforts related to decentralized identity authentication (DID) in cooperation with major countries such as the United States. In particular, he has contributed to enhancing the status of K-DID by facilitating the adoption of new international standardization projects such as the “Decentralized Identity Credential Trust Propagation Framework” (X.vctp, ITU-T SG17, September 2024, Geneva, Switzerland) and the “Entity Authentication Framework Revision” (ISO/IEC 29115) (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27/WG 5, March 2024, Manchester, UK). Once these international standards are adopted as ITU-T international standards, they can be widely applied in digital badge applications such as COVID-19 vaccination certificates, mobile electronic resident registration cards, and university transcript certificates. During this international standardization process, the positions of Korean industries regarding digital identity management will be reflected in the international standards.

Since actively participating in the SG17 chair group activities in 2003, Chairman Yeom has achieved the adoption of at least 50 ITU-T international standards in the information security field. Additionally, he established the ‘ITU-T X.509 Day’ event in 2022 to support the promotion of ITU-T X.509 international standardization based on distributed public key infrastructure (DPKI) that is secure against quantum computing threats. He also founded the ITU-T Joint Coordination Activity on Digital COVID-19 Certificates (ITU-T JCA-DCC) in 2021 to coordinate international standardization of digital COVID-19 certificates. These achievements are considered the result of international collaboration with key allied countries such as the United States over the past eight years. Through these activities, he is recognized for contributing to Korea’s leadership in international standards in cybersecurity, digital identity management, and certification.

Chairman Yeom plans to continue supporting the international standardization of K-DID as the advisory chairman of the Korea Digital Certification Association and to further elevate the status of K-DID and security by developing international standards for decentralized identity management systems.

Heung-Yeol Yeom, ITU-T SG17 international chair, stated, “Digital certification and identity management are fundamental to all ICT services, and with the recent emphasis on international standardization of digital identity wallets, it is necessary to promote international standardization that reflects the opinions of many Korean industries.”