Prime Minister Han Pledges Inclusive AI Society in National Foundation Day Address

Prime Minister Han Sung-sook pledged Saturday to build an inclusive artificial intelligence society while strengthening policies aimed at improving everyday living conditions, linking the government’s technology agenda to South Korea’s founding ideal of benefiting humanity.

Han delivered the message during a ceremony marking the 4,358th National Foundation Day at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in central Seoul. The annual holiday commemorates the legendary founding of Korea’s first kingdom, Gojoseon, and is closely associated with the principle of Hongik Ingan, commonly understood as broadly benefiting humankind.

In her commemorative address, Han said the world is experiencing change of unprecedented speed and scope. She said the government would gradually realize what it calls an “AI basic society,” seeking to ensure that technological change becomes a force that benefits everyone rather than leaving some people behind.

The remarks place inclusion at the center of the administration’s AI policy message. Han did not announce a detailed new program at the ceremony, but she connected the technology agenda with a broader promise to make policy outcomes visible in people’s daily lives. She said the government would concentrate further on housing stability, employment and financial services for lower-income citizens.

Han also emphasized culture as a means of expanding empathy and solidarity. She called on South Korea to share its experience, technology and cultural capabilities with others as countries confront common global challenges. Such cooperation, she said, would represent a modern application of the ideals long embedded in Korean history and culture.

The ceremony also highlighted acts of public service. Among those attending were firefighter Park Kyung-soo, who rescued neighbors during torrential-rain damage in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, and nurse Jeong Eun-a, who helped save a person who had suffered cardiac arrest. Han named them in her address and thanked them as people who had put the Hongik Ingan spirit into practice.

Her speech combined a ceremonial appeal to national values with the government’s current priorities. By placing AI, livelihood measures and cultural outreach within the same framework, Han presented technological modernization as a public project that should be judged not only by innovation but also by whether its benefits are broadly shared.