Top office's AI strategy secretary steps down to run for Busan seat in by-election
Published: 28 Apr. 2026, 19:42
Updated: 28 Apr. 2026, 19:44
![Ha Jung-woo, senior presidential secretary for AI future planning, speaks at the third meeting of the AI Innovation Committee held in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on April 10. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/04/28/200fd424-f691-41bd-8ddb-980db0a16530.jpg)
Ha Jung-woo, senior presidential secretary for AI future planning, speaks at the third meeting of the AI Innovation Committee held in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on April 10. [NEWS1]
Ha Jung-woo, the senior presidential secretary for AI future planning, has resigned to run in the by-election for a National Assembly seat in Busan’s Buk-A constituency during the June 3 local elections.
“President Lee Jae Myung has approved Ha’s resignation, saying that he respects the difficult decision he has made, and wherever and whatever Ha does, he hopes Ha will serve the nation and the people,” said Blue House spokesperson Kang Yu-jung on Tuesday.
Ha, who previously served as head of Naver’s future AI center overseeing global AI research, was appointed as the first senior presidential secretary for AI future planning just 12 days after the launch of the Lee Jae Myung administration last year.
Since then, Ha has led the government’s push for international cooperation on AI, including the introduction of 260,000 Nvidia graphics processing units; the unanimous adoption of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s AI initiative; a memorandum of understanding with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, on AI and renewable energy infrastructure investment in Korea; and the participation of Korean companies in the Stargate Project in the United Arab Emirates, a $20 billion initiative.
The seat became vacant after DP Rep. Chun Jae-soo resigned to run in the Busan mayoral election.
“The president cordially accepted my resignation and saw me off with a smile,” Ha said to reporters at the Blue House on Tuesday. “I plan to go down to Busan within the week and begin campaigning.”
He also spoke about his decision to run, saying, “I have always said I want to build a country where our children have a future and opportunities for growth, and I have never deviated from that direction.”
“Wherever I am and whatever I do, I will be doing what is most important at that moment to make Korea one of the top three AI powers, and any decisions will be made in the best interest of the people and the nation,” he said.
![Ha Jung-woo, senior presidential secretary for AI future planning, left, listens to President Lee Jae Myung during a Cabinet meeting and emergency economic inspection meeting held at the Blue House on April 14. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/04/28/94c0827d-e0a8-4aaf-a84b-2dc6cfa237fb.jpg)
Ha Jung-woo, senior presidential secretary for AI future planning, left, listens to President Lee Jae Myung during a Cabinet meeting and emergency economic inspection meeting held at the Blue House on April 14. [YONHAP]
Ha also reminisced about his past 318 days in the presidential office, saying that he achieved "some meaningful results, despite shortcomings, toward the goal of making Korea one of the world’s top three AI powers."
Ha’s candidacy came after repeated requests from the Democratic Party (DP).
DP leader Jung Chung-rae, who had publicly urged Ha to run in the Busan Buk-A by-election, met him for a two-hour dinner on Sunday and again attempted to persuade him, saying he should serve as “a driving force for victory in the Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang region and help advance the vision of a megacity in the area.”
The party is set to formally nominate Ha after he joins the party.
The by-election is expected to become a three-way race involving Park Min-sik, a former minister of patriots and veterans affairs who is being mentioned as a candidate for the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), and Han Dong-hoon, who was expelled from the PPP in January and has expressed his intention to run as an independent.
The PPP criticized DP's move for the seat as “irresponsible.”
“A key figure who had positioned himself as the heart of Korea’s AI competitiveness has abandoned state affairs just 10 months after his appointment to jump into the election,” said Choi Bo-yoon, a senior spokesperson for the party. “This recruitment, carried out while leaving the top of the command center of the national AI strategy vacant, is nothing more than a politically engineered deal from beginning to end.”
The conservative party also criticized Ha, saying, “Like an AI algorithm that moves according to the DP’s input values, this represents the height of irresponsibility in treating a position at the presidential office as merely a credential for elections.”
The resignation of presidential spokesperson Jeon Eun-soo was also approved the same day. The former teacher and lawyer previously served as a DP Supreme Council member when President Lee was party leader.
Jeon, a Busan native, graduated from Gongju National University of Education in South Chungcheong and worked as a teacher in Daejeon. She is considered a likely nominee for the Asan constituency in South Chungcheong.
![Blue House spokesperson Jeon Eun-soo speaks during a briefing on an emergency economic review meeting at the presidential press center on April 12. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/04/28/afe8393b-ed07-4b61-b172-2fbc12da2861.jpg)
Blue House spokesperson Jeon Eun-soo speaks during a briefing on an emergency economic review meeting at the presidential press center on April 12. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
“I have worked alongside the president, and I will communicate with him from the front lines and communicate effectively with the public,” she said. “I will put the people first in my politics.”
President Lee also accepted the resignation of Kim Seong-beom, vice minister of oceans and fisheries, who has been tapped by the DP as its candidate for a by-election in Seogwipo, Jeju Island.
With the candidacies of Ha and Jeon, the number of former presidential office staff running in the June 3 by-elections rises to four, including Kim Nam-joon, a former presidential spokesperson, and Kim Nam-kuk, a former digital communication presidential secretary, whose nominations have already been confirmed.
The number could increase further, as Lee Gwang-soo, a former senior administrative officer at the presidential office, is also being mentioned as a potential candidate in the Gunsan, Gimje and Buan constituency in North Jeolla. As for metropolitan government positions, Woo Sang-ho, a former senior secretary for political affairs, is running for governor of Gangwon.
“The command center of state affairs has been reduced to a waiting room for candidacies,” criticized Park Choong-kwon, floor leader spokesperson for the PPP. “The public feels frustrated and angry at such moves that prioritize vote calculations and personal advancement over a sense of duty to govern.”
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.
BY OH HYUN-SEOK, YANG SU-MIN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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