Ruling and Opposition Parties Adopt Confirmation Hearing Report for Science Minister Nominee Hoon Baeghwan

The confirmation hearing progress report for Science and ICT Minister nominee Hoon Baeghwan was adopted on July 15 through bipartisan agreement.

Science and ICT Minister nominee Hoon Baeghwan is responding to questions from lawmakers at the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee plenary session on July 14, 2025. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

The National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee processed the confirmation hearing progress report for nominee Bae during a plenary session held that morning.

The committee had held a confirmation hearing for nominee Bae the previous day, scrutinizing his qualifications and integrity. At the beginning of the hearing, conflict arose between the parties as People Power Party lawmakers displayed placards targeting Committee Chair Choi Minhee of the Democratic Party of Korea, but in the afternoon, lawmakers shifted their focus to policy verification for the nominee.

Nominee Bae is an artificial intelligence (AI) expert who joined LG Group in 2016 and served as the head of LG AI Research from 2020. He led the development of Exaone, a large-scale AI model, and is considered the right person to realize the Lee Jaemyung administration's core initiative of making Korea one of the world's top three AI powerhouses.

In his opening statement at the confirmation hearing the previous day, nominee Bae emphasized, "As an AI expert who has been at the forefront of industry and as a scientist and engineer, I will leverage my field experience to deliver tangible results that the public can truly feel."

Specifically, he pledged to: ▲ build an AI ecosystem by securing AI foundation models to establish AI infrastructure and realize an AI-based society; ▲ create an environment where researchers can focus on their work, including by innovating the government research and development (R&D) investment system; and ▲ achieve the goal of becoming a powerhouse in AI and science and technology talent, which is central to the national innovation ecosystem.