South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT, the National Information Society Agency (NIA) and the Korea Data Agency (K-DATA) said on Tuesday they will start a call for new 2026 designations of 'data safe zones' from March 3, where anyone can securely analyse and use closed data.

A data safe zone is an area designated under the Framework Act on the Promotion of Data Industry and the Activation of Data Use to enable secure analysis and use of data at facilities equipped with technical, physical and administrative security measures. A total of 14 sites at 11 institutions are currently designated and operating.

This year's call will proceed in 2 categories: general designation and conversion designation. General designations are for institutions that can meet the requirements to be designated as a data safe zone on their own. There is no separate budget support, and applications and reviews will be conducted twice, in the first half and the second half of the year.

Conversion designations are for institutions that are not currently designated as data safe zones but operate data analysis centres holding high-demand closed data. A total of 5 institutions will be selected, with support of up to 200 million won per institution for building security environments. Institutions selected for conversion designations will strengthen designation requirements, including security requirements, using the support funds and be designated as data safe zones in the second half of this year.

The ministry, NIA and K-DATA will hold a joint briefing session on Wednesday at NIA's Seoul office to provide guidance on the call for new designations, key support programmes and policy directions.

The ministry will invest a total of 5 billion won this year, including for conversion designations, to build a platform that unifies the entire process from data search to application, analysis and export. It will introduce private cloud services that have obtained Cloud Security Assurance Program (CSAP) certification and pursue linkages between data safe zones. It aims to complete construction of the linkages between data safe zones in the second half of this year.

Choi Dong-won (최동원), director general for AI Infrastructure Policy at the ministry, said, "Data safe zones are core infrastructure that supports the realisation of a leading AI nation." He added, "We will expand the foundation so the private sector can analyse high-value closed data by region and industry with confidence."