Ha Jung-woo, senior secretary for AI future planning at the presidential office, said on the 28th at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit that "investment is underway so that the Republic of Korea can grow beyond the level of an artificial intelligence (AI) powerhouse to become the AI capital of Asia."
Senior Secretary Ha attended the Future Tech Forum in the AI institutional sector at the CEO Summit, an official APEC side event, as a speaker that day and, in a keynote speech, introduced Korea's AI strategy and stated accordingly. He introduced an analysis article by FDi Intelligence under the Financial Times of the United Kingdom that ranked domestic AI model capabilities third after the two powerhouse countries, the United States and China, and the government's independent AI foundation model project under way.
Ha said, "A great deal of capital goes into energy infrastructure to build AI competitiveness, and there were concerns about whether it could be solved with domestic capital alone," adding, "However, with BlackRock recently saying it would invest in domestic AI and renewable energy infrastructure, progress is being made for Korea to grow into the AI capital of Asia."
He also said he plans to announce an "AI action plan" around the end of next month, with three main pillars: creating an AI innovation ecosystem with the private sector, nationwide AI-based revisions, and contributions to a global AI basic society. Senior Secretary Ha said, "Along with spreading specialized AI in manufacturing and bio fields where Korea has strengths, we will also massively expand investment in future technology fields such as artificial general intelligence (AGI), semiconductors, physical AI, science AI, and defense and culture AI."
He then introduced that the National AI Strategy Committee is planning to open a science AI research institute and a national AGI research institute, respectively. Senior Secretary Ha noted, "A leap to become one of the top three AI powers cannot be achieved by the government's efforts alone; cooperation with corporations, the public, and the global partners gathered here today is truly important," adding, "I do not believe sovereign AI is something achieved solely by forces within Korea."
He emphasized, "Through people-centered, inclusive AI, we will realize an AI basic society in which everyone benefits, enhance quality of life and cultural richness through AI, and make this APEC event the starting point for sharing those outcomes and experiences with the international community."