AI Policy Continuity Must Hold After Presidential Office Aide Resigns to Run for Seat

Ha Jeong-woo, the presidential office’s senior secretary for AI future planning, has offered to resign and has begun steps to run in a by-election for the National Assembly seat in Busan’s Buk-gu Gap district. The Democratic Party is reviewing a strategic nomination process, and the district has emerged as a battleground expected to draw major candidates from the ruling and opposition parties, as well as independents. While politics is focused on whether a prominent figure enters the race, the larger issue is that South Korea’s national artificial intelligence strategy should not be vulnerable to any one person’s career move.
 
Ha has been regarded as an expert with experience across the private AI sector and academia. After joining the presidential office, he took on key duties including coordinating the national AI strategy, aligning cooperation among ministries and refining an industry development roadmap. With the government defining AI, along with semiconductors, as a future growth engine, the departure of the dedicated senior secretary is not a routine personnel change.
 
The global AI race is also intensifying. The United States is expanding infrastructure with big tech and the government working together, while China is spreading AI across industries under state leadership. Japan and Europe are moving quickly to update laws and institutions. South Korea, the article argues, cannot afford to show a vacuum in its control tower because of the political calendar.
 
Political participation itself is not the problem, it said. Specialists entering the National Assembly to back industrial policy through legislation can be necessary, and the AI era demands lawmakers who understand technology. If Ha pushes measures on data use, talent development, regulatory reform and expanded computing infrastructure, it could help the country. The question, the article said, is not who leaves, but whether the system keeps working after the departure.
 
South Korea has long faced criticism that policy is overly centered on individuals. Momentum can build under a capable minister or a strong senior secretary, but it often fades when personnel change. Industrial strategies have been renamed with each administration, and plans have been repeatedly sent back for review when organizations are reshuffled. In a field like AI, where long-term investment and consistency are essential, that pattern is especially damaging.
 
The AI industry cannot be judged by results in one or two years, the article said. Building large-scale computing infrastructure, improving the data ecosystem, expanding the power grid, training specialized talent, investing in startups and adopting public services are national projects that take at least five years and, in some cases, more than 10. If direction shifts whenever a policy leader moves for an election, companies may delay investment decisions and talent may be more likely to leave for overseas opportunities, it said.
 
The government and the ruling party should quickly complete the appointment of a successor, it said, selecting someone with industry understanding and coordination skills to minimize any gap. It also called for AI policy to be anchored in institutions rather than personal capacity, by formalizing a whole-of-government framework, annual budget plans, public-private consultation channels and a legislative roadmap with the National Assembly so the strategy continues regardless of who is in charge.
 
The opposition should not treat the issue only as a political fight, the article said. If the strategy is meant to endure regardless of which party holds power, it requires bipartisan agreement. Measures such as a special semiconductor law, revisions to data regulations, expansion of power infrastructure and AI talent visa policy should not be weighed for partisan advantage, it said, warning that South Korea will fall behind if politics keeps blocking progress while other countries mobilize.
 
One person is free to enter politics, the article said, but a national strategy should not sway with an individual’s move. In an era of competition over AI sovereignty, it said, what is needed is not a single star player but a national system that keeps operating even when people change. Ha’s resignation should not end as another political headline, it said, but should prompt a review of the durability of South Korea’s AI policy.