이번 코리아헤럴드 칼럼으로 대통령실 AI미래기획 수석비서관 자리와 국가인공지능전략위원회 상근부위원장 자리 등 한국 AI 정책의 가장 강력하고 중요한 두 자리가 동시에 공석인 상황에 관한 생각을 정리한 글을 실었다.
《AI 강국을 외치면서, 정작 AI 컨트롤타워는 비어 있다》
- 이재명 정부는 AI를 국가 핵심 과제로 삼고 국가AI전략회의(NAIS)를 강화하며 대한민국을 '세계 3대 AI 강국'으로 만들겠다는 비전을 제시했다.
- IT와 AI 분야 전문가인 임문영·하정우를 핵심 보직에 기용한 것은 전문성을 중시하겠다는 정부 의지를 보여주는 상징적 인사로 평가받았다.
- 그러나 두 사람은 임명된 지 1년도 채 되지 않아 국회의원 보궐선거 출마를 위해 사퇴했다. 국가 AI 정책을 총괄하는 핵심 인사가 이렇게 빨리 자리를 떠난 것은 납득하기 어렵다.
- 더욱이 여당은 이미 국회에서 압도적 다수 의석을 확보하고 있어, 두 사람의 출마가 국정 운영에 꼭 필요한 상황도 아니었다.
- 문제는 그 이후다. 정부는 후임 인선은 물론 현재 누가 업무를 맡고 있는지, 언제 새로운 리더십을 구축할 것인지에 대해서도 명확한 설명을 내놓지 않고 있다.
- AI 기술 경쟁은 정치 일정을 기다려주지 않는다. 국가 AI 전략의 핵심 자리를 장기간 공석으로 방치하는 것은 대한민국의 경쟁력을 약화시킬 수 있다. 말이 아니라 행동으로 보여줘야 할 때다.
Despite taking office without a proper preparation period, the Lee Jae Myung administration has achieved remarkable results in several areas that none of its predecessors managed to accomplish within such a short period. At the center of those achievements has been a narrative surrounding artificial intelligence.
One example is the surge in exports by South Korean manufacturers of semiconductors and other hardware related to the AI sector as global competition to secure an advantage in AI innovation has continued to accelerate.
The government correctly recognized that active participation in the global AI race was the only way for South Korea to overcome many of the structural problems it is already facing. President Lee declared that AI policy would remain at the center of state affairs.
In this respect, the Lee administration was able to win broad public support, and the AI policies it subsequently announced were generally welcomed. In particular, the government not only retained the existing Presidential Committee on AI, but also strengthened it while renaming it the Presidential Council on National AI Strategy.
The president appointed a figure with experience in the information technology industry and digital policymaking as the standing vice chair of the NAIS, effectively its most powerful position. Earlier, Lee had demonstrated his commitment to AI policy by creating the position of senior presidential secretary for AI and future planning and appointing an AI expert at Naver to the position.
At an event in September last year, Lee said, “Advanced technologies such as AI represent national strength and economic power, and ultimately national security capabilities as well.”
He went on to declare to the world that the NAIS would serve as South Korea’s highest command center in its effort to become one of the world’s top three AI powerhouses.
The council’s status was strengthened compared with that under the previous administration because it was granted the authority not only to review and coordinate AI-related policies across government ministries and the nation as a whole but also to make decisions at the strategic level.
The appointments of Lim Mun-yeong as the standing vice chair of the NAIS and Ha Jung-woo as senior presidential secretary for AI and future planning drew attention at home and abroad. They were received positively as evidence of Lee’s genuine intention to place experts in important positions.
Yet early this year, less than a year after the two officials had assumed the most important positions in South Korea’s AI policy establishment, both stepped down almost as though by prior arrangement.
The fact that they decided at the same time to leave the two most important positions in AI policy could be regarded as just a coincidence. However, since the parliamentary by-elections in early June 2026 were already foreseeable when they accepted their appointments, the real issue is not their resignations but their original appointments.
Important time
It is difficult to understand why they resigned to pursue personal political ambitions only a few months after assuming such important positions.
If the ruling party had been two seats short of a parliamentary majority and had faced serious obstacles in running the country, it might have been difficult to deny the importance of the two officials entering the by-elections. But that was not the reality at any time after Lee took office in June last year.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea has consistently held an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly. In practice, there has been no case in which the government was unable to pursue desired legislation because it lacked sufficient seats.
That is precisely why it is problematic that the two officials holding the most important positions in national AI policy resigned only a few months after taking office in order to run in elections. The larger problem concerns the silence on the part of the president since then on these issues.
In a country that aims to become a global AI power, the two officials responsible for that very policy left office at the same time. The government has still provided the public with no guidance on who is performing their duties, how their successors will be selected or when they will be appointed.
Many important developments have taken place in AI this year, but two examples alone show clearly that competition for AI innovation is becoming sharper rather than less intense. The first is the shock surrounding Anthropic’s Mythos AI system, and the second is the South Korean government’s controversial announcement of a large new memory semiconductor cluster.
Major developments surrounding the race for AI innovation continue to unfold. Under these circumstances, leaving the two most important positions vacant for reasons that are difficult to understand is no small matter. The situation has become even more confusing amid media reports that Ha may be appointed the standing vice chair of the NAIS.
During a period in which events capable of influencing the country’s future in AI were unfolding, the two most important AI positions were vacant at the same time. More serious than the vacancies themselves are the process by which the positions became vacant, the prolonged failure to fill them and the absence of any visible plan for doing so.
Only a few months before the two officials left their posts almost simultaneously, Lee said that “as the world enters a great transition marked by unlimited competition in science and technology, competition among countries to secure leadership in advanced technologies is becoming increasingly intense.”
Referring to AI, he added that “if we stay half a step ahead, we will become a leader able to enjoy limitless opportunities, but if we fall behind, we will remain a follower forever.” One can only hope that action will follow before the public loses faith that the government’s determination will amount to more than words.
