Health and Welfare Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong and World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus unveiled the AI Healthcare Seoul Declaration at the opening of the two-day 2026 World Bio Summit.
The ministry said it is the first AI pledge it has issued jointly with a WHO director-general.
The summit's first session was set to examine AI's shift from a research tool into a "scientific agent" that forms its own hypotheses and designs experiments.
Topics include multi-agent AI systems, foundation models trained on biological data and virtual cells used to fine-tune clinical trials.
The speaker lineup paired executives from firms including Amgen, AstraZeneca, and Novo Nordisk, also with an AI architect from OpenAI is also attending the event.
The declaration calls for AI's gains to be shared fairly, oversight scaled to each tool's purpose and risk, AI-based early warning of public health crises and tighter biosecurity.
It also acknowledges uneven readiness among countries and leaves implementation to national laws.
"The ministry will lead responsible AI innovation so that everyone can share in the benefits of AI development," Jeong said.
Tedros' trip is his first to South Korea since he took office in 2017, and the first by a WHO chief since Margaret Chan visited in 2015.
Jeong was also scheduled to meet the health ministers of Turkey, Armenia, Tunisia and Qatar to discuss medical AI and digital health.
AJP Takeaways
- South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare and the World Health Organization jointly announced the AI Healthcare Seoul Declaration on Oct. 21, 2026, at the opening of the 2026 World Bio Summit in Seoul.
- The two-day summit brings health officials, global drugmakers including Amgen, AstraZeneca and Novo Nordisk, and Korean AI drug developers together to discuss AI's role in drug discovery, clinical trials and pandemic preparedness.
- WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' visit is his first to South Korea since taking office in 2017, and the first by a WHO chief since Margaret Chan's 2015 trip.
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