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Intelligent leadership is necessary for Korea to keep up in AI

Published: 04 Mar. 2025, 00:02

Park Su-ryon

The author is the industry news desk at the JoongAng Ilbo.

In August 2015, I had the opportunity to interview Jack Ma at Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China. At the time, roughly a year after the company's listing on the New York Stock Exchange, Ma confidently predicted that by 2030, the world would reassess the debate over planned and market economies. His reasoning was based on big data.

“A hundred years ago, market economies prevailed because we believed in the invisible hand,” he argued. “But now, with big data allowing us to see that hand, planned economies have the upper hand.”

CEO Jack Ma of Alibaba listens to Chinese President Xi Jinping at a U.S.-China business roundtable, comprised of U.S. and Chinese CEOs in Seattle, Washington September 23, 2015. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

During my visit, Ma and Alibaba executives eagerly showcased the company’s real-time data-processing capabilities and the transformative potential of their data centers. They claimed this infrastructure would drive innovation across Hangzhou and China at large. Ma also declared his ambition to support Chinese youth in entrepreneurship, aligning with the Chinese government’s “Made in China 2025” initiative, which had been announced just a few months earlier as a blueprint for advancing high-tech industries and future economic development.

Today, as I observe the rise of China’s AI startup DeepSeek, I am reminded of the impact that Alibaba’s technological infrastructure has had on China’s industrial evolution. This year marks the conclusion of the first phase of China’s 30-year economic plan, and the results speak for themselves. China has made significant strides toward semiconductor self-sufficiency, its domestically produced aircraft, the C919, is in operation and industries such as batteries, electric vehicles, and displays are thriving. The so-called “DeepSeek shock” that stunned the world this January is merely an indication that the battleground has shifted to AI. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has expanded its data centers nationwide and leveraged innovative companies from Shenzhen and Hangzhou as symbols of the state’s technological prowess.

For Korean companies competing against these advancements, the pace of China’s execution is daunting. A senior executive at a major Korean corporation recently admitted, “It’s not just the ‘Made in China 2025’ strategy itself that’s impressive, but the fact that they executed it over a decade. That’s what’s truly alarming.”

Representatives from the liberal Democratic Party and conservative People Power Party discuss the so-called K-chips Act at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Feb. 18. [YONHAP]

Of course, China’s model has its limits — its success is built on disregarding privacy protections and intellectual property rights. That path is not one Korea can or should follow. But unlike Silicon Valley, which operates within a dominant global tech ecosystem, Korea lacks a clearly defined trajectory for its own technological future.

Following the DeepSeek shock, Korea’s political circles have embraced the rhetoric of an “AI arms race.” Both ruling and opposition parties have proposed supplementary budgets of over a trillion won ($685 million) for AI development, urging rapid investment in GPUs. Liberal Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, now in full campaign mode, took this further during a live YouTube broadcast on Feb. 2, making sweeping promises.

“If we invest public funds in an Nvidia-like company and distribute 30 percent of its shares to all citizens, we wouldn’t need to rely on taxes.”

He also proposed making generative AI universally free for all Koreans and, in an apparent bid to appeal to younger male voters, declared, “Why should hundreds of thousands of young men still be living in military barracks? The military should also be AI-driven.”

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung speaks during a four-way discussion on a special law for semiconductors, an extra budget and other pending issues at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Feb. 20. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Before indulging in such grand visions of an AI-powered society, we must first confront reality. Whether paid or free, AI cannot function without data center infrastructure. Yet in Korea, building a single data center can take years. In cities like Goyang and Gimpo, local governments initially approved data center projects but later revoked construction permits due to resident opposition. Some lawmakers have exacerbated the conflict by staging head-shaving protests and proposing restrictive legislation. Misinformation has spread among residents, with claims that data centers emit harmful electromagnetic waves — despite scientific evidence proving that emissions are lower than those from a standard microwave. The government has even resorted to installing “signal lights” to visualize electromagnetic intensity in an attempt to assuage public fears.

If constructing a single data center is this arduous, how feasible is Lee's vision of an AI-driven society?

An even greater challenge is electricity. An AI-driven future demands an uninterrupted, large-scale power supply for data centers. Without nuclear expansion, securing sufficient carbon-free energy sources will be extremely difficult. The issue of high-level nuclear waste disposal sites is also an inevitable political hurdle that remains unresolved.

Korea’s crisis is not due to a lack of planning — it has always been about execution. SK hynix’s plan to build a semiconductor cluster in Yongin at a cost of 122 trillion won was delayed for six years due to disputes over land acquisition, water supply and power infrastructure. Only at the end of last month did construction finally break ground. Meanwhile, in Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture, TSMC completed its new semiconductor plant in just 22 months and began operations late last year.

In Korea, a democratic and market-driven society, resolving conflicts among stakeholders is paramount. This requires capable political leadership. However, Korea’s politicians increasingly either ignore conflicts or, worse, fuel them for political gain. Many local leaders hide behind protest signs rather than engaging in governance. And now, in a country where a president has declared martial law because “the National Assembly wouldn’t cooperate,” we cannot afford to be distracted by yet another round of empty rhetoric.

The time has come to prioritize political leaders who can resolve conflicts — not just those who excel at speaking well or waging partisan battles.

Translated using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.