President Yoon: "In the Era of Digital Deepening, the Government Must Become a Digital Platform"

President Yoon Chairs Emergency Economic and Livelihood Meeting at Kim Dae-jung Convention Center Hosting AI Exhibition

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] President Yoon Seok-yeol emphasized on the 28th that "in the era of digital deepening, the government must become a digital platform, and the most important technologies at this time are cloud and artificial intelligence."

President Yoon made these remarks at the 8th Emergency Economic and Livelihood Meeting held at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center in Gwangju, according to Lee Jae-myung, deputy spokesperson of the presidential office.

Before his inauguration, President Yoon visited the Gwangju Artificial Intelligence Academy and twice visited the AI data center construction site. Gwangju is promoting the establishment of an AI cluster as a representative AI city and holds annual AI exhibitions and conferences.

At the 2022 AI TECH+ exhibition, which opened that day, President Yoon toured booths showcasing related technologies such as robotic arms, AI kiosks, and autonomous robots.

During the meeting, President Yoon also brought up the construction of the Gwangju complex shopping mall, a topic sensitive to both ruling and opposition parties. He stated, "The development of AI in Gwangju and the government's success in platformization are inseparable destinies," adding, "I hope that opportunities for cooperation among industry, academia, and research institutes in Gwangju will be created frequently in the future."

He continued, "Gwangju is a place that has long been prepared to leap forward as a representative AI city," emphasizing, "We will spare no institutional or financial support to help it become the undisputed Silicon Valley of Korea."

Furthermore, he urged, "A complex shopping mall will be established in Gwangju, and I ask the city to make special efforts to actively utilize cutting-edge digital technologies including AI so that it can become a world-renowned digital innovation hub."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The meeting was attended not only by government and related agency officials but also by representatives from major IT companies and startups. Lee Han-joo, CEO of Bespin Global, who attended the meeting, said, "Currently, Korea has about 77 items ranked first in world exports, but I want to contribute to expanding this to over 2,000 by utilizing digital technologies and help Korea leap to number one in digitalization worldwide."

Kang Han-seung, CEO of Coupang, also mentioned, "The workload intensity in logistics operations has decreased by 40% thanks to AI algorithms," adding, "We will create about 10,000 jobs through investments in logistics center construction in the Gwangju area and nationwide."

Kim Dong-hoon, CEO of NHN Cloud, emphasized, "We are building an AI data center ranked among the top 10 in the world within the Gwangju AI cluster," and stated, "Through NHN Academy Gwangju, operated in cooperation with Chosun University, and the AI research and development center established in collaboration with Chonnam National University, we will contribute to the development of the regional digital ecosystem."