Korea’s AI push must transcend politics

(Yonhap)

Acting President Han Duck-soo’s recent address to the National Assembly marked a pivotal moment in South Korea’s race to secure a foothold in artificial intelligence (AI).
With a vision to build a homegrown equivalent of ChatGPT, Han pledged to form a national “AI dream team” and urged lawmakers to swiftly pass a supplementary budget to supercharge the country’s AI ambitions.
This isn’t just another policy initiative. It’s a survival strategy in an era where global competitiveness hinges on technological leadership.
The proposed 1.8 trillion won ($1.26 billion) AI budget—combined with previously allocated funds, totaling 3.6 trillion won for the year—will be channeled into developing large language models (LLMs), securing 10,000 high-performance GPUs, nurturing 3,300 AI-focused graduate-level experts, and expanding an AI innovation fund for startups from 90 billion to 200 billion won.
The stakes are clear.
Korea lags significantly behind global frontrunners in nearly every metric that matters: infrastructure, technology, and talent. The nation possesses just 2,000 of Nvidia Corp.’s H100 AI chips, a fraction of the 150,000 held by tech giants like Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
Among top-tier AI researchers, only 2 percent are Korean. Despite being ranked third in AI technology globally, the gap between Korea and leaders like the U.S. and China remains vast—especially in large language models, where the country is a late entrant.
In this context, AI is not just another budget item or partisan talking point—it is a national imperative. Encouragingly, even opposition figures such as Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung, a top contender in the next presidential race, have voiced support for bold AI investments, proposing a 100 trillion won vision to make Korea one of the world’s top three AI powers.
The real risk now lies not in overspending but in inconsistency. If AI policy veers with the political winds—much like past energy strategies—the nation will find itself permanently stuck in catch-up mode.
Korea’s AI momentum must transcend administrations and ideologies. The question is no longer who will lead, but whether we will lead at all.