Artificial Intelligence in South Korea: An Interdisciplinary Study

Korea Colloquium

Abstract:
Graduate and Undergraduate Research Fellows at the Harvard Korea Institute present their current findings on artificial intelligence in South Korea. Offering perspectives from across the social sciences and humanities, these preliminary reports aim to capture the emergent effects of AI’s expansion in South Korean society, with the goal of understanding AI as a multidimensional social object of inquiry.

• Dean Kim explores the recent surge of capital in the AI space in South Korea by mapping the flow of funding across startups, model developers, and government agencies.
• Taegyun Lim conceptualizes and classifies South Korea’s AI policies as developmental and regulatory, distinguishing between policies designed to promote the growth of AI capabilities and those intended to govern the conditions under which AI is developed and used.
• Han Na Jun explores the commercialized and politicized notion of ‘Sovereign AI’ by tracking the discourse and debate surrounding the South Korean government’s AI policy.
• Sonya Soeun Park provides an overview of emerging artificial intelligence (AI) research initiatives in South Korea, encompassing universities, government agencies, corporations, think tanks, research centers, symposiums, and international collaborations.
• Nayun Eom investigates the varying forms of resistance to AI integration in South Korea, beginning with the South Korean education sector.
• Soojin Kim situates AI within a broader view of technologically facilitated gender-based violence and its legal responses in South Korea, underscoring the persistent discrepancy between evolving forms of violence and the law.
• Jaeyeon Jeon questions the growing number of people in South Korea who report feeling “comforted” by AI chatbots and asks: what exactly is this comfort, and how does it work? 

Speakers:

Graduate Research Fellows:
Nayun Eom, PhD Student, Sociology
Nayun Eom is a doctoral student in Sociology at Harvard University. Her research focuses on the impact of A.I. and automation on the future of work, particularly in the sectors of service work and care work. 

Jaeyeon Jeon, PhD Student, Comparative Literature
Jaeyeon Jeon is a PhD student in Comparative Literature at Harvard University. His research focuses on the autobiographical novel as a lens for placing contemporary Korean literature and European modernism in dialogue, with attention to broader debates in world literature.

Soojin Kim, PhD Candidate, Social Anthropology
Soojin Kim is an anthropologist who studies digital technology, gender, and personhood. Engaging in a broader feminist project, her doctoral research examines digital sexual violence and support systems in South Korea.

Taegyun Lim, PhD Candidate, Government
Taegyun Lim is a Ph. D. candidate in the Department of Government, Harvard University. He has been doing research on international political economy and international organizations.

Research Fellow:
Han Na Jun, AM in Regional Studies East Asia, 2025
Han Na Jun is a Research Fellow at the Korea Institute. Her current work focuses on emerging forms of nationalism and sovereignty with the rise of new technologies like artificial intelligence. Most recently, she received her A.M. in Regional Studies East Asia at Harvard University.

Undergraduate Research Fellows: 
Dean Kim, Concentration in Mechanical Engineering; Secondary in English; Class of 2027
Sonya Soeun Park, Concentrations in Government & Sociology; Secondary in Ethnicity, Migration, Rights; Class of 2026

Chaired by Nicholas Harkness, Modern Korean Economy and Society Professor of Anthropology; Director, Korea Institute, Harvard University

Generously supported by the Soonae Noh Korea Institute Fund, Harvard University

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For more information about this project, please visit here.