Hwaseong City Shares “AI Administration” Experience With 67 Institutions, Seeks to Improve Public Services

'Public AX Forum' Held Alongside MARS 2026 at COEX
Discusses Administrative AI Applications, Including Civil Complaint Guidance and Disaster Response
Mayor Jeong Myeonggeun: "We Will Deliver AI Administration Residents Can Experience"

Hwaseong Special City in Gyeonggi Province shared its experience applying artificial intelligence (AI) to public administration with officials from central government ministries, local governments and public institutions, and discussed ways to improve public services.

Attendees of the 2026 Public AX Forum Hwaseong pose for a group photo. Photo provided by Hwaseong City.

Hwaseong City (Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun) said on November 5 that it had held the 2026 Public AX Forum Hwaseong with the Hwaseong Research Institute Data Center at Hall E5 of COEX in Seoul on November 4. The event, held as part of MARS 2026, was attended by 154 people, including organizers, from 67 institutions.

The forum was held under the theme “One Institution’s Experience, Everyone’s Growth.” It brought together practitioners advancing the public sector’s AI transformation (AX) to share the challenges and achievements they had encountered in the field and explore ways for institutions to collaborate. Hwaseong City hosted the forum, which was jointly organized by the AI Champion Network, Hwaseong City and the Hwaseong Research Institute. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the National Information Society Agency (NIA) sponsored the event.

In a keynote presentation, Jeon Jong-hong, principal researcher at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), explained the direction of public-sector AI transformation and the role of the AI Champion Network. The network was formed by public officials who completed the government’s AI Champion training program to share work experience across institutions and regions.

Park Seung-hyun, head of Hwaseong City’s AI Smart Strategy Office, introduced an “ontology-based urban operations model.” The approach connects diverse city data according to concepts and relationships to diagnose urban problems and identify solutions.

At institution-specific presentations, practitioners from 10 institutions, including the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, Gangjin County in South Jeolla Province and the Korea Youth Work Agency, presented examples of AI use. They shared how they had applied AI to practical tasks, including providing guidance for civil complaints outside regular working hours, issuing weather alerts for individual business sites and analyzing patented technologies in the agri-food sector, as well as lessons from implementing these initiatives.

Jo Seungmun, Second Vice Mayor of Hwaseong Special City, delivers opening remarks at the 2026 Public AX Forum Hwaseong. Courtesy of Hwaseong City.

Roundtable discussions covered eight topics: responding to civil complaints; providing information on public benefits; digital inclusion; disaster and safety forecasting and response; identifying people in need of care and at-risk households; housing and real estate stability; transportation and mobility; and small businesses and the local economy. Participants discussed ways to improve public services, drawing on the data and practical experience of their respective institutions.

“The most reliable guide to public-sector AI transformation is the experience of colleagues who have already put it into practice,” said Hwaseong Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun. “Sharing an institution’s achievements and lessons from its challenges will help accelerate change in public administration.”

He added, “Building on experience from the field, we will expand cooperation among institutions and work to deliver AI-powered public administration that benefits residents’ daily lives.”

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