PM meets U.N. chief to promote bid to host AI hub

▲ South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok (L) poses for a photo with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during their meeting at the U.N. headquarters in New York on March 16, 2026, in this photo released by Kim's office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

PM-UN chief

PM meets U.N. chief to promote bid to host AI hub

By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, March 17 (Yonhap) -- Prime Minister Kim Min-seok met with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this week to promote South Korea's bid to host a global hub for artificial intelligence (AI), his office said Tuesday.

Kim, who has been on a two-nation tour that will later take him to Switzerland, visited the U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday (local time), as well as the offices of UNICEF and the United Nations Development Program.

During his meeting with Guterres, the prime minister stressed the need to strengthen U.N.-centered multilateralism in order to address common challenges facing the international community, and reaffirmed South Korea's commitment to playing a responsible role and contributing to the effort, his office said in a press release.

In particular, he stated South Korea's wish to work with U.N. member states and international bodies to strengthen multilateral cooperation over AI issues in terms of technology and rules. He also requested the U.N.'s role and help with South Korea's efforts to hold dialogue with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

In response, Guterres voiced his support for South Korea's push to establish the Global AI Hub, an initiative aimed at bringing together U.N. bodies, and South Korea's private and public sectors to produce AI-based solutions to global issues.

He also "highly assessed" the North Korea policies and other global and regional policies of President Lee Jae Myung's administration, according to Kim's office.

The prime minister later met separately with Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, who expressed her intent to actively participate in the South Korean initiative.

He also met with UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo, who welcomed the project, Kim's office said.

The prime minister is set to travel to Geneva on Tuesday to hold similar discussions with the heads of the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

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