In a historic move, South Korea’s President, Lee Jae-myung, has appointed the country’s first-ever senior presidential secretary for artificial intelligence (AI), naming Ha Jung-woo, the head of Naver’s AI Innovation Center, to the new post.
The position—created to centralize AI policy and infrastructure strategy—will report to the chief of staff for policy and marks the administration’s push to elevate artificial intelligence as a national priority. According to The Korea Times,” Ha is widely regarded as a vocal proponent of AI sovereignty and has long advocated for large-scale investment, diplomatic coordination, and the development of homegrown AI infrastructure.
In recent lectures and social media posts, Ha has called for a strategy to provide domestic AI firms with access to accelerators and support open-source development of Korean large language models (LLMs). On June 8, he wrote, “Becoming an AI powerhouse isn’t achievable by domestic efforts alone,” urging South Korea to lead a coalition of middle-power nations to reduce technological dependence.
Ha holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Seoul National University and previously led the development of Naver’s Korean LLM through his roles at CLOVA AI Research and the AI Innovation Center.
Alongside Ha’s appointment, President Lee also named three deputy national security directors as part of a broader restructuring effort. Retired three-star general Kim Hyun-jong was named first deputy director, overseeing military affairs and national defense reform. Lim Woong-soon, Korea’s ambassador to Canada and a veteran diplomat, was named second deputy director for foreign affairs. Ambassador to the Vatican Oh Hyun-joo, the country’s first woman to hold the post, was tapped as third deputy director to lead economic security initiatives.
President Lee’s appointments reflect a growing emphasis on AI governance, military reform, and international diplomacy as strategic priorities for his administration.
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