South Korea Approves Sovereign LEO Network Plan as it Looks to 6G Era
South Korea has formally approved plans to develop a sovereign low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications network by 2035, as it looks to reduce reliance on foreign constellations and build domestic space connectivity capability ahead of the 6G era.
According to a report in Korea’s Economic Daily, the programme is intended to create a Korean alternative to Starlink, supporting both civilian and defence use cases across areas where terrestrial networks remain limited. While South Korea already has near-ubiquitous fibre, 4G and 5G coverage on land, the government is focused on extending resilient communications to maritime routes, airspace, remote regions and strategically sensitive zones.
The initiative was approved through South Korea’s National Space Committee and will be administered by the Korea AeroSpace Administration. The government is targeting a 3% share of the global space connectivity market by 2035, up from around 0.7% today, supported by a wider industrial strategy to strengthen domestic satellite manufacturing, launch capability and space-based communications.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute is expected to play a key role in the technical architecture, with early work focused on high-capacity space links, AI-enabled handover and integrated satellite-terrestrial networking. The constellation is expected to support future 6G non-terrestrial network requirements, including connectivity for ships, aircraft, drones and urban air mobility platforms.
Hanwha is set to be a central industrial partner in the programme, reflecting South Korea’s push to build a vertically integrated domestic space supply chain covering satellite production, launch vehicles and supporting infrastructure. The roadmap is expected to include phased development through the early 2030s, with test satellites, inter-satellite links and full constellation deployment targeted before 2035.
The plan comes as South Korea opens its market to international LEO services. Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb were cleared for local operations in 2025, while Hanwha Systems is already OneWeb’s Korean distributor and supplier to the country’s military through 2030. KT SAT also has distribution arrangements involving Starlink and OneWeb, while Samsung continues to play a key role in NTN chipset development.
For direct-to-device players, South Korea remains a strategically important but still unsettled market. AST SpaceMobile has built partnerships with mobile operators globally, but has yet to secure a major Korean carrier relationship with SK Telecom, KT or LG Uplus.