Bae Kyunghoon: "Dokpamo Will Continue... Korea Will Also Pursue Frontier AI"

Dokpamo and Frontier AI as Twin Pillars

“Dokpamo Phase 3 to Proceed as Planned... Must Become the Model Chosen by Industry”

“Bold Push for Frontier AI Development... Must Foster as a National Strategic Asset”

Expanded GPU Support for Startups and SMEs

Bae Kyunghoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, announced his intention to continue pushing forward with the planned Indigenous AI Foundation Model (“Dokpamo”) project, while separately developing a world-class frontier AI model.

On the 30th, Bae stated via social media, “To get straight to the conclusion: Dokpamo will continue,” adding, “Korea must also take on the challenge of frontier AI at the same time.” His remarks come after the government emphasized the need to develop frontier AI, while also suggesting the operating method for the Dokpamo project might need to change, sparking speculation that the Dokpamo project might be suspended—a possibility that Bae has dismissed.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, Kyunghoon Bae, is speaking at the kick-off meeting for the cybersecurity-specialized AI model development project held at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 22nd. 2026.9.22 Photo by Hyunmin Kim

He said, “Over the past year, the growth of Korean AI has exceeded expectations,” but noted, “Simply ‘building’ a good model is not enough.” He emphasized that for these models to have an impact, they must actually be chosen and used in industry and research fields. He pointed out that many domestic sites are still using open-weight models from China.

Bae identified the shifting nature of global AI competition as a reason Korea must jump into frontier AI model development. He noted, “AI is now more than just a technology for answering questions; it has become a national strategic technology that solves difficult problems in mathematics and science and impacts cyber security and industrial competitiveness.” He warned, “Going forward, the gap between countries that possess frontier AI and those that do not could become significantly larger than it is now.”

Bae stressed that developing frontier AI must be pursued boldly at the national level, stating, “Korea must also create a frontier AI that is among the best in the world, and we need to foster this as a national strategic asset.”

He reaffirmed the plan to continue advancing Dokpamo as well, to introduce the optimal AI for industrial sites. He said, “Not every AI needed in the field has to be a hyper-scale frontier model. Each site requires the optimal AI, considering factors like cost, speed, security, and expertise. Our competitive models should actually be used across all industries.”

He also commented, “The next goal for Dokpamo should not simply be to raise benchmark scores, but to become an AI that is actively chosen in real-world settings.”

Bae implied there may be changes in the provision of GPU support for participating companies. He explained, “When we first designed the project, there was a general lack of GPUs that could be allocated as support. However, government and private investment in GPUs has now expanded dramatically.” He argued, “Rather than thinking about ‘who to eliminate,’ we must now consider ‘how to nurture as many possibilities as possible.’”

He added, “We will build an ecosystem in which startups and SMEs developing Dokpamo and specialized AI can access ample computing resources and growth opportunities, so they can become not just unicorns, but global AI companies.”

Bae concluded, “Frontier AI will help Korea overcome its technological limits, while Dokpamo will ensure that Korean AI is utilized throughout industry and society. Korea will become a country that not only builds great AI, but also creates new industries and markets through AI.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.