AI in the Presidential Election Pledge

( Electronics Newspaper on May 27, 2025 )

Myung Shin Kim, Honorary President

The Asian Patent Attorneys Association

The invention of the wheel, which began around 2000 BC during the Ur dynasty in the ancient Sumerian region of Mesopotamia, has evolved into a revolutionary tool that has shaped human history—extending from bicycles and automobiles to today’s autonomous vehicles—governing every aspect of human life.

Today, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a presence akin to that of the wheel. Industries that do not incorporate AI are now being driven to closure. Accordingly, in the 21st presidential election, candidates are pledging massive investments in AI. These include promises to invest 100 trillion KRW in AI, train 200,000 AI professionals, and create a 100 trillion KRW public-private joint fund.

However, the AI pledges of the candidates lack concrete methodologies, making them insufficient to adequately prepare for the AI era, which is the foundation of advanced industries.

The Intellectual Property Framework Act, enacted in 2011 as the second of its kind in the world, was intended to serve as a national survival strategy for Korea—a country without natural resources—to remain competitive globally by focusing on intellectual property, including AI technologies and all creative products of the human mind.

One of the most notable achievements of this act is that it enabled individuals with good technologies but without funding to secure investments, loans, or guarantees using intellectual property as collateral, with cumulative support exceeding 10 trillion KRW.

Yet, despite such excellent laws and systems, it is truly regrettable that a lack of active presidential interest has prevented these mechanisms from functioning to their full potential. Intellectual property, including AI, is not merely a matter of science and technology; it is a foundational element across all industrial sectors, much like the wheel.

Under the Intellectual Property Framework Act, the highest policy decision-making body for intellectual property—the Presidential Council on Intellectual Property—is a presidential advisory body. Nevertheless, it is currently co-chaired by the Prime Minister and a civilian, due to the oversight at the time of the legislation which, based on the Japanese system, mistakenly assumed that Japan's Prime Minister held a role equivalent to Korea’s President.

Given that intellectual property policy determines the success or failure of future industries across all sectors, I am convinced that the President should serve as Chair of the Presidential Council on Intellectual Property. One can easily understand this necessity by referring to the successful outcomes of the Export Promotion Meetings chaired by the President starting in 1965.

In a presidential system, it is unthinkable to leave the national survival strategy in the hands of a body under the Prime Minister. Without rectifying this, no policy—whether it be investing 100 trillion KRW in AI, training 200,000 AI personnel, or forming a 100 trillion KRW joint fund—will succeed.

It is my sincere hope that the next President will amend the Intellectual Property Framework Act to retain the Presidential Council on Intellectual Property as a presidential body and serve the President as Chair directly, thereby laying a solid foundation for the development of Korea’s future high-tech industries.