Bae Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "Looking at China's artificial intelligence (AI) model 'Kimi K3,' you can see the result that it is possible to challenge the Mythos class at low expense," and noted that Korea must build a frontier model to secure world-class AI competitiveness.
Bae held a press briefing marking the first anniversary of taking office at the Government Complex Sejong on the 20th and emphasized, "Frontier-class AI models will increasingly show a tendency to be controlled by governments like nuclear weapons." Bae took office as Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) on July 17 last year. As the ministry was elevated to a deputy prime minister-level ministry, Bae has concurrently served as deputy prime minister since September last year.
Kimi K3 is a model released on the 17th by Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI. According to AI performance analysis firm "Artificial Analysis," Kimi K3's intelligence index is 57, approaching Anthropic Claude Fable 5 (60) and OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol Max (59). It is ahead of Google Gemini 3.5 Flash (50).
◇ "Without our own AI, we become dependent on foreign countries"
Bae said, "It is very enviable that a Chinese AI startup is delivering good results," adding, "China provides a lot of support at the government level, but I think corporations themselves are also producing results." Bae said, "Unlike the United States, which is increasingly pursuing closed AI policies, China continues to release open-source models, but once China reaches a certain level, it will also switch to a closed model," expressing concern that if Korea fails to secure its own AI capabilities, it will become dependent on foreign countries. Bae said, "If the price of foreign AI services rises 20-fold or 100-fold from now, will we be able to keep using them?" and added, "Such a situation can happen at any time."
Accordingly, Bae emphasized that the independent AI foundation model project and Everyone's AI, a public service based on domestically developed AI models, will proceed without a hitch.
Bae said, "When I travel abroad, many countries such as the European Union (EU), the Middle East, and ASEAN hope to cooperate with Korea to build AI that is not dependent on the United States or China," adding, "However, there is internal discussion about whether our AI capabilities are at a level to support these countries, so it is time for us to prepare to gain competitiveness." He continued, "To build a Mythos-class model, you need about 10,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), but the GPUs supported for corporations in the independent AI foundation model project are around 500 to 700, so it is difficult to build a frontier model with the independent model alone."
Regarding China's launch of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) in Shanghai on the 16th with Russia, Brazil and others, Bae answered, "There needs to be a policy discussion on what position we should take between the United States and China." Bae said, "Our people mainly use American AI services, while industry widely uses China's data models," adding, "While working to find an optimal point between the United States and China, it is important to strengthen our own AI capabilities."
◇ "Telecom and power grids are also AI competitiveness"
Bae said, "AI infrastructure cannot rely solely on graphics processing units (GPUs) or the Neural Processing Unit (NPU)," emphasizing that telecommunications and power infrastructure are important.
Bae said, "In the age of agentic AI, AI will produce and consume more tokens, so robust telecom infrastructure needs to be laid as the base," adding, "We are in continuous discussions with the three telecom carriers so we can take the lead in the 6G (sixth-generation mobile communication) era." He emphasized, "If Korea is to move beyond being a country that produces and consumes tokens to a country that exports tokens overseas, telecom and subsea cable infrastructure are important."
Bae said, "To build AI data centers to 8.4 GW by 2029 and 15 GW by 2035, securing power is extremely important," adding, "For now, the government (the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment) has already announced a significant expansion of new nuclear power plants and renewable energy, and personally, I think we should keep even liquefied natural gas (LNG) on the table and create a dedicated rate system."
Bae said, "If the past year was about laying the groundwork for a technology-based society in the AI era, going forward it is time to produce tangible results on this foundation," adding, "We will make sure to deliver results that can be proven."