Korea Electronic Payment Forum (KEPF) said that it agreed with the Next-generation Integrated Circuit Card Council (NICC) of Japan and the National Integrated Circuit Registration Center of China to organize the founding conference of the tripartite 'Smart Card Grand Consortium' in May next year.

"The consortium will standardize security key technology as its first project. This standard is very likely to be adopted as the world standard,"said secretary general Jo Yeong-Hyu of KEPF.

The inauguration of the international consortium is expected to have a considerable effect on the introduction of smart cards in Korea, facilitating the adoption of electronic resident cards.

Prof. Nagaki Omaya of Tokyo University, representative of Japan's NICC and who played a leading role in reaching the agreement, said, "This consortium is formed to join efforts of three countries to offer benefits to their respective people, and it will expand its scope of activities by conducting case studies and international seminars."

NICC is a leading smart card research organization which took the initiative in developing electronic resident cards for Japan, and the National IC Registration Center of China is set to develop electronic resident cards for China beginning next year.