Home > Opinion > Columns

The ‘giant wheel’ and a startup audition

Published: 13 Feb. 2026, 00:02

Park Su-ryon

The author is the deputy editor of Content Division Three and the head of Corporate Research at the JoongAng Ilbo.

Artificial intelligence is now the most powerful force shaping global capital flows. At the center of strategic competition between the United States and China is AI, and the scale of investment reflects that reality. Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft alone plan capital expenditures of about $700 billion this year, a figure comparable to Korea’s total annual exports or Japan’s national budget.

President Lee Jae Myung delivers opening remarks at a strategy meeting on building a startup-driven economy at the Blue House on Jan. 30. The backdrop reads, “K-Startups create the future.” [BLUE HOUSE]

The surge reflects expectations that AI will significantly raise productivity at both the corporate and national levels, especially as aging and population decline reshape labor markets. AI assistants can now produce reports without specialized legal or financial knowledge, while humanoid robots are being prepared for round-the-clock work in industrial settings. As a result, corporate investment is shifting away from human labor toward capital-intensive infrastructure such as data centers and robotics. This trend also means that fewer corporate profits are likely to circulate back into the economy through wages.

Seen in this context, the opposition of the Hyundai Motor labor union to deploying humanoids in factories was not surprising. Some observers, frustrated by the perceived job security of large-company unions, have argued that organized labor’s influence is fading. Yet the underlying risk extends far beyond major conglomerates. Job security across the broader workforce is increasingly uncertain.

The impact is already visible in white-collar employment. Signs of job displacement by AI are emerging in professional services. In Korea’s service sector, employment in professional, scientific and technical fields fell by 56,000 in December compared with a year earlier and dropped by another 98,000, or 6.6 percent, in January. Much of the decline reflects entry-level tasks in fields such as law and accounting being replaced by AI systems.

As AI reshapes the employment landscape, the traditional path of accumulating wealth through stable wages is becoming less reliable. Real estate investment in the Seoul metropolitan area has become more difficult, leaving the stock market as one of the few remaining channels for capital growth. For many, if they cannot become employees receiving large performance bonuses at companies such as SK hynix, the alternative is to become shareholders instead. Anxiety that the opportunity may soon pass has fueled leveraged investment and driven market enthusiasm.

Beyond the stock market, however, economic conditions remain subdued. The Lee Jae Myung administration distributed 13 trillion won in consumption coupons, but domestic demand and employment have yet to show clear improvement. Corporate bonds issued by companies in need of capital have struggled to attract buyers. Meanwhile, two firms — Samsung Electronics and SK hynix — account for roughly 40 percent of total market capitalization on the benchmark KOSPI, highlighting the concentration of capital flows.

Addressing concerns about job losses from AI and robotics, President Lee said that “the giant wheel cannot be avoided” and proposed entrepreneurship as a key response to widening inequality. At a Jan. 30 strategy meeting on building a startup-driven economy, he outlined a plan to shift Korea’s growth model away from large conglomerates in the capital region toward startups, young entrepreneurs and regional development. The overall direction reflects the need to diversify sources of growth.

Questions remain, however, about the policy approach. The government has proposed a nationwide startup audition that would provide 2 million won (about $1,400) each to 5,000 participants, followed by a televised competition featuring 100 finalists. President Lee suggested the program should be held quarterly rather than once a year.

Whether promotional events can address the deeper barriers to entrepreneurship is uncertain. Similar competitions organized by central and local governments have been held before. What has discouraged founders has not been a lack of prize money but layers of regulation, the difficulty of restarting after failure and structural limitations in capital markets that make it hard for investors to recover funds.

Concerns from the startup community reflect these structural issues. “People do not have children just because subsidies are offered. Entrepreneurship also requires genuine motivation,” said Han Sang-woo, chairman of the Korea Startup Forum. He warned that if young companies face heavy regulatory pressure before they can grow, few will be willing to take the risk. Korea’s political system has struggled to mediate conflicts between established professional groups and emerging platform-based startups.

At the same time, some AI entrepreneurs are leaving Korea. In a field where global scale is essential, capital, talent and technology continue to concentrate in Silicon Valley. Korea, meanwhile, began implementing the world’s first comprehensive AI framework law last month and is strengthening platform regulations with a preventive approach.

Calling for “creative destruction” while tightening regulatory controls sends mixed signals. Rather than focusing on promotional events, policymakers may need to prioritize rebuilding the broader startup ecosystem.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.