In 2021, the National Security Research Institute (NSR) and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) established the Korean Post-Quantum Cryptography (KpqC) research group. To strengthen national post-quantum security against the rise of quantum computing, the KpqC competition for the Korean standard PQC scheme has begun. 

In November 2022, the first round began with 7 Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM) candidates and 9 Digital Signature candidates. In December 2023, 4 KEM algorithms and 4 Digital Signature algorithms have been advanced to the second round. The final winners of the KpqC competition were announced in January 2025: Digital signatures HAETAE and AIMer, and PKE/KEMs SMAUG-T and NTRU+.

In 2022, NIST chose three digital signature schemes to standardize: Dilithium, Falcon, and Sphincs+. NIST also announced that the PQC standardization process is continuing with a fourth round; however, no digital signature candidates are under consideration for the fourth standardization process. 

To continue the standardization, NIST posted a call for additional digital signature proposals, and in July 2023, Round 1 Additional Signatures were announced, including HAETAE. In October 2024, Round 2 candidates were announced, excluding all the MLWE/MSIS-based signatures.