Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said Monday that frontier AI models are becoming strategic assets like nuclear weapons and reiterated that South Korea should develop its own.
Bae made the remarks at a press conference in Sejong marking his first year in office. He noted the recent launch of Chinese startup Moonshot's Kimi K3 model, which approaches the performance of Anthropic's Fable model, and referenced Washington's ban on foreign access to Anthropic's Fable and Mythos models a month earlier.
"Frontier-level AI models are becoming more like a nuclear weapon," Bae said. The government is formulating a plan to develop a frontier AI model to achieve world-class competitiveness.
South Korea aims to become a full-stack AI provider, supporting countries such as Tibet and Mongolia with models, services and semiconductors. Regarding possible Chinese proposals for an AI cooperation network, Bae said the matter requires further discussion while strengthening independent capabilities amid ties with the United States.
