South Korea

• The government approved rewritten national AI Ethics Principles under the AI Basic Act framework (24 August 2026) -- the first update since 2020, reworked for generative and agentic AI. The framework rests on three core values (human dignity, public good, sustainability), expands from six to seven principles by adding accountability, and notably extends responsibility to AI users alongside providers. The principles are non-binding and carry no penalties.

  2026-08-24

  SourceThe Korea TimesKyunghyang Shinmun

• A 40+ expert Task Force (convened since March, reportedly still active) continues refining AI Basic Act implementation; a new ₩763.2B Science and Technology Innovation Fund and an ₩8.6 trillion R&D plan are reported, though these figures come from a general ministry source rather than a specific release.

  2026-07

  SourceMSIT

• South Korea's state-backed AI compute build-out accelerates: a national AI computing centre at Solasido in Haenam, Jeollanam-do — planned around 15,000 GPUs under a public-private special-purpose company — breaks ground in the third quarter of 2026, and MSIT's 2026 AI budget rises to a reported record of roughly $3.5B, with national GPU-procurement targets of 52,000 by 2028 and 260,000 by 2030.

  2026-07

  SourceW.MediaNVIDIA Newsroom

• The sovereign foundation-model programme's second-round evaluation is scheduled for 8-11 August 2026, with the four remaining teams (LG AI Research, SK Telecom, Upstage and Motif Technologies) tested — reportedly including a panel of around 200 'citizen evaluators' — with agentic capability and real-world applicability cited as key criteria; the round is expected to narrow the field from four teams to three, and to two finalists by year-end.

  2026-07

  SourceBigGo FinanceBigGo Finance

• MSIT selects a Motif Technologies-led consortium to fill the sovereign foundation-model programme's vacated fourth slot via a supplementary call, after Naver Cloud and NC AI declined to re-enter a revival round; the programme's teams are now LG AI Research, SK Telecom, Upstage and Motif Technologies.

  2026-02-20

  SourceThe Korea TimesLightReading

• AI Basic Act takes effect — described as the world's first comprehensive cross-sector AI legal framework — with MSIT enforcing a roughly one-year grace period on fines and investigations.

  Major

  2026-01-22

  SourceCooley

• MSIT drops Naver Cloud and NC AI from the sovereign foundation-model programme after a first-round evaluation — Naver Cloud's submission reportedly relied on fine-tuning Alibaba's Qwen model rather than independent development — while LG AI Research, SK Telecom and Upstage advance to the second round.

  2026-01-15

  SourceThe Korea HeraldThe Korea Times

• Civil society groups and human-rights lawyers criticise the AI Basic Act's enforcement decree for a narrow 'high-risk AI' definition, arguing it offers weak protection against AI impersonation and fraud.

  2026

  SourceBusiness & Human Rights Resource Centre

• MSIT originally selects five teams — Naver Cloud, Upstage, SK Telecom, NC AI and LG AI Research — to build homegrown sovereign foundation models with state-subsidised compute, with an early reported target of matching at least 95% of frontier-model performance, reassessed roughly every six months through 2027 (this roster and cadence were later superseded — see subsequent entries).

  2026

  SourceInven Global

South Korea's sovereign-model push runs through a state-backed foundation-model programme — currently LG AI Research, SK Telecom, Upstage and Motif Technologies — building homegrown models with subsidised compute. Two of the programme's original five teams, Naver Cloud and NC AI, were dropped after a January 2026 evaluation and replaced by a Motif Technologies-led consortium in February 2026. Earlier reporting cited a target of matching at least 95% of frontier-model performance, reassessed roughly every six months, though this has not been independently reconfirmed since the reshuffle.

• Cloud infrastructure market data

  Reliable, sourced market-share percentages for Korea's cloud providers could not be confirmed, so dominance figures have been left blank rather than estimated. KT Cloud and Kakao Enterprise are also commonly cited alongside Naver Cloud, AWS and Azure as domestic cloud players, but were not confirmed with enough confidence to add to this list.

Deliberately sourced beyond government publications. The bars below show each category’s actual share of this page’s citations — an internal editorial guideline rather than a rigorously derived target, so treat it as a rough steer, not a precise benchmark.

1. South Korea's AI Basic Act overviewThink tanksCooley2026-01
2. Naver Cloud, Upstage, SK Telecom, NC AI and LG AI Research team up on sovereign modelsNewsInven Global2026
3. South Korea draft decree for AI Basic Act sparks backlashExpert commentaryBusiness & Human Rights Resource Centre2026
4. South Korea's AI Basic Act balance analysisThink tanksStimson Center2026
5. AI Basic Act implementation task force and R&D fundingGovernmentMSIT2026-07
6. LG, SKT, Upstage advance in Korea's sovereign AI project; Naver, NC dropped in 1st roundNewsThe Korea Herald2026-01-15
7. Naver Cloud, NC AI cut from national AI foundation model raceNewsThe Korea Times2026-01-15
8. Motif-led consortium joins national AI foundation model projectNewsThe Korea Times2026-02-20
9. South Korea enters second phase of sovereign AI projectNewsLightReading2026-02
10. South Korea's national AI project enters second round; four teams submit field report cardsNewsBigGo Finance2026-07
11. South Korea recruits 200 citizen evaluators to test homegrown 'K-AI' modelsNewsBigGo Finance2026-07
12. The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to launch a National AI Computing CenterNewsW.Media2026
13. NAVER, NVIDIA and Brookfield to expand Korea's national AI factory infrastructure buildoutIndustryNVIDIA Newsroom2026
14. Korea sets national principles for AI ethicsNewsThe Korea Times2026-08-24
15. Government rewrites AI ethics principles after six yearsNewsKyunghyang Shinmun2026-08-24