Paik Kyung-hoon and Ha Jungwoo Call for "Strict and Transparent Review" Amid Independent AI Model Development Controversy

Upstage and Naver Face Allegations of Plagiarizing Chinese Models
Paik Kyung-hoon: "Evaluation Will Be Objective and Fair"

Paik Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, and Ha Jungwoo, Chief of AI Future Planning at the Presidential Office, have reportedly called for a strict and transparent review process regarding the government's "independent AI foundation model development" project. This move is interpreted as an effort to address the recent controversy surrounding Upstage and the Naver consortium, where allegations have arisen about the use of core AI technologies sourced from China.

Paik Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Photo by Yonhap News

According to the government on January 8, Deputy Prime Minister Paik and Chief Ha recently agreed that the review of the independent AI foundation model development project, launched to advance the nation's AI technological capabilities, must be conducted fairly, strictly, and transparently.

They reiterated the purpose of the project, which is to develop a domestic AI model that can be used in sensitive fields such as national defense and healthcare-areas directly tied to citizens' lives-without being swayed by overseas big tech companies. They emphasized that the most technically superior models should be selected and supported.

In a post on Facebook that day, Deputy Prime Minister Paik stated, "There has been debate recently over whether the selection of independent AI models is truly 'from scratch' (developed from the ground up). The evaluation will be conducted objectively and fairly, and only when the ethical standards are universally acceptable will we be able to maintain the K-AI title."

His remarks come at a time when controversy is escalating: allegations that Upstage plagiarized a Chinese model were followed by an apology from the accuser, who admitted their verification was insufficient, seemingly closing the matter. However, it then emerged that Naver had used the encoder and weights-the core modules of its multimodal AI model-from a Chinese model, further fueling the debate.

Naver has acknowledged using the encoder and weights from Alibaba's "Qwen 2.5" model from China, but maintains that these components can be replaced with its own technology at any time.

It is reported that Chief Ha, who left Naver Cloud to join the Presidential Office some time ago, still feels burdened by ongoing perceptions of a connection to Naver in some circles. The Presidential Office has stated that it does not intervene in individual ministry projects, including the independent AI foundation model development project.

The Ministry of Science and ICT has yet to clarify whether it will redefine the "from scratch" standard, which would define what constitutes a true sovereign AI, ahead of the first-round results of the national AI selection process, which are now just a week away.

A senior official at the Ministry of Science and ICT commented, "Since we are currently in the evaluation period, it would be inappropriate for the ministry to make specific statements. The expert review panel will also assess whether the models are truly developed from scratch."