Mayor Baek Younghyun: "Founding Global Alliance... Advancing as a Defense and Security Hub"

Pocheon City and FineVT Launch Global Alliance
Announcing 'NEXT-P'... Declares Itself as a Hub for Defense Security R&D

Pocheon City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Baek Younghyun) announced on July 8 that it had opened the "Electronic Warfare and Security Research Institute" together with FineVT (CEO Yoon Hyungyoung), a specialized UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) manufacturing company, and held the Global Alliance Founding Seminar at the Pocheon Business Center Convention Hall on July 7.

Baek Younghyun, mayor of Pocheon, attended the opening ceremony of the "Electronic Warfare and Security Research Institute" on the 7th at the Pocheon Business Center Convention Hall, together with FineVT, a specialized UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) manufacturing company, and delivered a greeting. Provided by Pocheon City

The event was attended by 23 companies from 10 countries, including Rohde & Schwarz, a German electronic measurement company. Going forward, demonstration and research cooperation will be actively promoted with Pocheon as the hub.

During the seminar, Pocheon City unveiled its "NEXT-P" project, which contains future strategies such as fostering the AI-based drone parts, materials, and aircraft maintenance (MRO) industry, establishing a defense embedded cluster, and building a drone testing, evaluation, and certification center. The plan is to utilize military training grounds and the Hantan River area as advanced testing spaces and to establish a sophisticated, eco-friendly, verification-oriented research infrastructure.

In the policy announcement session, the Korea Aerospace Administration presented the "K-Drone Airframe Supply Chain Initiative," and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute delivered a presentation on the "Importance of Test Sites."

During the corporate presentation session, Oh Sejin, head of the FineVT research institute, introduced the "Standardization and MRO Strategy for Power Support System Drones." Participating companies also reached a consensus on the need to build demonstration infrastructure and foster specialized talent.

Oh Sejin stated, "As our first R&D project, we have been finally selected as the SK Broadband consortium for the '2025 Demand-Based Quantum Technology Demonstration and Consulting' project organized by the National Information Society Agency (NIA) under the Ministry of Science and ICT." He added, "Accordingly, from 2025 to 2026, we plan to conduct PQC (Post-Quantum Cryptography)-based KCMVP drone demonstration and expert consulting, focusing on the Pocheon-Goyang wired section and the Pocheon wireless testbed." This project is a core demonstration initiative aimed at verifying the real-world applicability of drones for military and government agencies by strengthening the security of drone wireless communications.

He continued, "As our second R&D project, we will research anti-drone electronic warfare technology to enhance the security of key national facilities and the military, and as our third project, we will pursue standardization tasks to secure interoperability between civilian and military drones." He emphasized the importance of establishing an integrated defense system to prepare for future battlefield environments.

Oh is an expert who has overseen everything from technical supervision to design and training for military and government facilities in the field of electronic warfare and security, and he predicted that these projects would help Pocheon establish itself as a hub for defense security technology.

Pocheon City plans to use this alliance as an opportunity to attract and expand cooperation with international defense and security companies, focusing on specialized technologies such as quantum cryptography-based security solutions, communication data links, and anti-drone (C-UAS) systems.

Mayor Baek Younghyun stated, "This alliance has laid the foundation for transforming Pocheon's industrial potential into tangible research and technological achievements," and added, "We will actively utilize Pocheon's verifiable test infrastructure to ensure the success of the Army Headquarters' drone standardization and aircraft maintenance projects."

Mayor Baek further commented, "We will accelerate the creation of joint research outcomes through cooperation with the Northern Gyeonggi branch of Seoul National University's Intelligent Unmanned Vehicle Center and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute."

Meanwhile, Pocheon City was selected for the "RISE Project" to foster drone specialists at Daejin University, and the region's local e-sports pro team, FN Pocheon, achieved the feat of qualifying for the finals of the Saudi World Cup in the Battlegrounds category.

Through such public-private-military-academic cooperation, Pocheon is creating a new-growth industrial ecosystem and emerging as a city that encompasses the drone, defense, and digital content industries.