Report on organizing support for vulnerable workers presented

National AI Policy 2.0 pushed forward — 'New markets need new systems'

President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a senior secretaries meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a senior secretaries meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday called for balancing AI development and market expansion with robust evaluation and safety capabilities, and directed officials to find swift administrative remedies — without waiting for legislation — to address the structural difficulties overseas adoptees face in accessing their personal records.

Cheong Wa Dae Chief Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung conveyed the details of the closed-door discussion at the 48th senior secretaries meeting, which Lee chaired, in a written briefing that afternoon.

At the meeting, Lee received a report from the Social Affairs secretariat on ways to strengthen advocacy for vulnerable workers, including those at small and medium-sized enterprises and platform workers. The secretariat said it was necessary to support various forms of organizing — such as raising union membership rates among SME workers, whose unionization rate stands at less than 1 percent, and helping platform workers establish mutual-aid associations — so that these groups can represent their own interests.

The AI Future Planning secretariat then presented its plan for "National AI Policy 2.0," centered on problem-solving, and outlined three strategic directions: linking public-sector and industrial demand to AI services and markets while expanding overseas entry for proven services; strengthening AI risk assessment, verification and safety systems; and spreading AI benefits across citizens' lives while addressing the impact on jobs and regional industries.

After receiving the briefing, Lee said "new systems are needed to open new markets," adding that "it is important to actively push AI development and adoption while at the same time raising our evaluation and safety capabilities."

Lee also followed up on complaints from overseas Koreans he had heard directly during a recent foreign trip. He asked officials to "closely examine the difficulties overseas adoptees face in verifying their personal information and find ways to enable rapid change, beyond slow processes such as legislative revision."


sunpine@heraldcorp.com