The Ministry of Interior and Safety announced Wednesday during a press briefing that it will create a new government bureau dedicated to incorporating artificial intelligence technology into its policies and functions, as part of the ministry’s organizational reshuffle.
Tentatively named the “AI Government Bureau,” the newly proposed government office will replace the existing Digital Government Innovation Bureau under the Interior Ministry, which has been responsible for overseeing the South Korean government’s e-government policies.
The existing bureau also recently played a central role in responding to the massive state network outage, triggered by a fire at the National Intelligence Resources Service in September. Though most key services have been restored, the outage is still ongoing, with only 95.1 percent of government services restored as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Amid mounting criticism over its slow response, Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung explained that the ministry is aiming to rebrand and restructure the bureau in an attempt to reset and advance the public sector in a “more forward-looking” way.
“The government aims to evolve into one that incorporates future technologies in its policies and functions by using artificial intelligence to improve its recovery systems during unexpected outages as well as advancing digital public services with AI,” Yun added.
The South Korean government has repeatedly mentioned in the past that it would begin to invest in making the country a leader in AI and attempt to accelerate the country’s transition to an AI-driven economy. Outlining the government’s budget plan for 2026, President Lee Jae Myung also pledged Tuesday to allocate 10.1 trillion won ($6.98 billion) of the total budget to help Korea transition into an “AI-based society.”
“The transition to AI that the current government is attempting is very broad, so it is something that all government ministries will work on incorporating into their respective areas,” said Yun. “The Interior Ministry will oversee AI technology used in the public sector and in the government, to ensure the government effectively transitions into a government that incorporates AI into its functions.”
Yun also mentioned that the newly created office will oversee the government’s policies related to AI, as well as AI-based public services and supporting government infrastructure that runs on advanced technology systems.
lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com
