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A Korea Post drone takes off from Goheung

South Korea’s first-ever mail delivery by drone took place on Nov. 28. Korea Post announced on Nov. 28 that a drone departed from Goheung, South Jeolla Province, and delivered actual packages and registered mail to the island of Deungnyang four kilometers away. While some South Korean delivery businesses have done test runs, this was the first case of an actual mail delivery by drone.

The drone picked up 8 kg of mail at a pier in Goheung before its departure, flying to an altitude of 50 meters before reaching the village center on Deungnyang Island. A postal worker unloaded the mail, after which the drone returned to its departure site. Following the input of coordinates, the entire delivery process from liftoff to flight, delivery, and return took place automatically without remote manual operation. Traditionally, mail to Deungnyang Island has been delivered by postal workers who board a morning ferry to the mainland to load it into a boat and take it back. The drone took 10 minutes to deliver the mail.

Korea Post has worked with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) to develop mail delivery drones. Mock deliveries were staged between April and August in island (Goheung) and mountain regions (Yeongwol, Gangwon Province) to test the safety of mail delivery by drone and applicability with local conditions. Korea Post has set a target date of 2022 for commercialization of mail deliveries by drone.

“We intended to enable the use of drones to make mail deliveries to island and mountain regions and emergency relief good deliveries to regions affected by heavy snows or disaster,” explained Korea Post president Kang Seong-ju.

“We hope this will be an opportunity to improve delivery quality for general mail services and apply the Fourth Industrial Revolution to mail-related efforts,” Kang said.

By Ahn Seon-hee, staff reporter

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