Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
New AI policy chief warns of export control risks, vows push for homegrown AI
Ha Jung-woo, standing vice chairman of the Presidential Council on National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, speaks during his inaugural press conference at the council in central Seoul, Monday. Newsis
By Nam Hyun-woo
Ha Jung-woo, the new standing vice chairman of the Presidential Council on National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (NAIS), said Monday that Korea must continue efforts to develop competitive AI capabilities of its own to mitigate future risks such as potential export controls on top-tier artificial intelligence (AI) models.
During a press conference marking his appointment, Ha said export controls on top-tier frontier AI models could appear again at any time, citing a U.S. export control on Anthropic’s Mythos 5 model in June that spread fears that advanced AI tools have become strategic assets.
“Disparities in access to leading AI models could cause gaps in national capabilities,” he said. “Whether it is the government’s ongoing national foundation model project or other types of initiatives, Korea needs to maintain its own capabilities to make frontier AI models.”
Ha’s comments came as the national foundation model project, an initiative to foster domestic frontier-level AI models using locally developed technology, faces growing questions over whether the models are being evaluated properly, how they will be utilized after selection and whether they can compete with global frontier models.
“We need to take this opportunity to review whether the project is staying true to its original purpose, whether the national foundation model initiative remains viable and what steps we should take to narrow the gap with frontier models and join the leading group,” he said.
“I believe experts on the council can contribute by identifying shortcomings and improving the program. Whether it takes the form of a new frontier model project or something else, we need to move in a direction that addresses the issues that have been raised.”
Ha, former head of Naver Cloud’s AI Innovation Center, made headlines as the country’s first presidential AI secretary and for his failed candidacy for a parliamentary seat earlier this year.
Returning to his field of expertise after four months, he said he would work to connect the government’s policy capabilities with the industry to deliver tangible results.
“We will make necessary policy decisions swiftly, actively coordinate issues among government ministries and remove obstacles facing the industry,” Ha said, citing difficulties in administrative approvals for building AI data centers as one such obstacle.
NAIS is a presidential council mandated at coordinating and deciding strategic directions of government AI policies. It is headed by President Lee Jae Myung, and Ha is the standing vice chairman, which is a minister-level post.