South Korea

행안부, 공공 AX 책임질 '인공지능정부실' 신설…범정부 DR 체계도 정비

ET News | Local Language | News | Nov. 7, 2025 | Regulation

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety, led by Minister Yoon Ho-joong, announced the establishment of a new 'AI Government Office' to oversee the public sector's transition to artificial intelligence (AI). This office will replace the existing Digital Government Innovation Office, reorganizing its structure into three new bureaus focused on AI government policy, AI services, and AI infrastructure. The AI Infrastructure Bureau will be elevated to oversee public infrastructure safety and cybersecurity at a higher organizational level than before.

In addition to creating the AI Government Office, the ministry plans to revamp the nationwide disaster recovery (DR) system following a recent fire at the National Information Resources Service. The government system rankings will be expanded from four to six levels, enabling prioritization of critical systems and implementation of dual redundancy measures.

Other reforms include accelerating the implementation of a "one-stop administrative service" model, which will proactively provide necessary services to citizens without requiring prior applications. The ministry aims to finalize the strategy this year, begin pilot improvements on complex civil complaints, and complete the organizational restructuring by the end of November.

Minister Yoon emphasized the focus on core tasks, integration of capabilities, and the creation of an execution system capable of delivering tangible results to citizens. The reorganization aims to embed the values of participation, solidarity, and innovation across policies, enhancing public trust in government AI initiatives and contributing to safer, smarter governance.

[단독]한-영 FTA 개선협상도 조만간 체결...원산지 기준 개선 추진

Maekyung | Local Language | News | Nov. 7, 2025 | UndeterminedTrade Issues and Numbers

Korean and British trade delegations are in the final stages of negotiations to improve the Korea-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA), with an agreement expected to be concluded and announced within 2025. The talks focus on refining business-friendly rules of origin and establishing updated digital trade norms, with main negotiation sessions scheduled to last a week starting next week.

The Korea-UK FTA, originally signed in 2019 after the UK’s Brexit-related withdrawal from the EU, aims to modernize trade terms to reflect new norms such as gender equality, digital trade, and the bioeconomy. The UK is Korea’s sixth-largest European trading partner and the third-largest investor in Korea as of 2024. The current improvement talks, ongoing since January 2024, cover about 20 chapters but do not include new market opening measures.

Key improvements include easier-to-use origin rules that facilitate tariff-free exports and a two-year extension of a special origin provision recognizing products made with EU parts as Korean-made, now set to last through the end of 2025. Enhanced digital trade measures are also critical, reflecting the importance of digitally delivered services—which constituted 72% of UK exports to Korea in 2022—and the growing international competitiveness of Korean content (K-content) in the UK market. Both countries aim to finalize and implement the improvements starting next year.

당국, 롯데손보에 '옐로카드'… 매각 빨간불

Maekyung | Local Language | News | Nov. 7, 2025 | Regulatory Enforcement Actions

Lotte Insurance has been issued a business improvement recommendation, the lowest level of prompt corrective action, by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) due to insufficient capital soundness. The FSC warned that without immediate solvency improvement measures, insurance claim payments and consumer protection could be at risk. Lotte Insurance must submit a capital adequacy improvement plan within two months and implement it over one year if approved. Despite this, the insurer will continue operations including claim payments.

Lotte Insurance’s solvency ratio (K-ICS) was 129.46% in Q2, below the 130% regulatory threshold, prompting financial authorities to intervene. Although its ratio temporarily rose to 141.6% in Q3 after capital-raising efforts, the authorities considered this a temporary fix since the increase was largely due to supplementary capital like subordinated bonds, not stable core capital. The company’s core capital ratio has worsened, standing at -12.9% in Q2 compared to the domestic non-life insurer average of 106.8%.

This is the first prompt corrective action on an insurer since 2018 and marks a downgrade after four years of limited improvements. Lotte Insurance contests the business improvement recommendation, claiming potential illegality and arguing that it relies on non-quantitative, subjective assessments. The prompt corrective action is expected to harm the company's image and likely delay the sale process managed by private equity firm JKL Partners, which began in 2023 after acquiring Lotte Insurance in 2019.