Drone delivery to island regions will be fully implemented starting in August, and it is expected to alleviate inconveniences experienced by island residents by enabling the rapid delivery of daily necessities and emergency supplies.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Minister Park Sang-woo) announced on the 30th that the 14 local governments selected for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s drone demonstration city construction project in March have completed preparations for drone delivery and will begin full-scale K-drone delivery service in August.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has been working hard to establish a K-drone delivery safety management system together with the Korea Aviation Safety Technology Institute, Korea Transportation Safety Authority, Korea Aerospace University, and Sejong Cyber University.

We have carried out special flight approval to ensure that non-visual drone flights, which are essential for drone delivery, can be safely performed, and have inspected the installation and operation plans for drone delivery bases, drone delivery points, and drone situation rooms built by local governments.

In addition, we provided a standard manual so that drone delivery companies can build their own drone safety management system based on the aviation safety system, and focused on establishing a safe management system, such as building a monitoring system to check whether safe flights are taking place along the drone flight path and operating a drone situation management center.

The drone delivery areas implemented by 14 local governments include 32 island areas, 17 park areas, and 1 port area.

Jeju started operation on July 19th, and from August Gongju, Gimcheon, Pocheon, Yeosu, Seongnam, Yangju, Changwon, Ulju, and Tongyeong will start, and Seosan, Namwon, Incheon, and Busan are scheduled to start in September.

The main delivery items are food and daily necessities weighing less than 3kg, and in some island areas, seafood produced by local residents will be delivered back, and in park areas, local specialties will be delivered, and in port areas, ship supplies will also be delivered.

In addition, in areas where K-drone delivery is implemented, defibrillators and first aid kits for emergency patients are placed, so they can be quickly delivered by drone upon request according to the method provided by each local government.

In addition, some large corporations are participating in the K-drone delivery system to deliver their products, such as electronic devices like mobile phones and water purifiers, to consumers, so the range of items to be delivered may become more diverse in the future.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Aviation Policy Bureau Director Joo Jong-wan said, “K-drone delivery will contribute to relieving the inconveniences of residents in logistics-vulnerable island regions by increasing the weight of delivered items and diversifying the items,” adding, “We will also cooperate with other local governments to expand the drone delivery area and strive to establish it as a safe and convenient new delivery system.”