At the ASTEEDA Executive Salon 2026 session 'Media and Entertainment in the AI Era and Korea–Japan Co-evolution,' Lotte Holdings, Samseog Ko, and ESTsoft share one stage | Ko: 'Turn zero-sum into plus-sum — a world where everyone thrives together'; the asymmetry of strengths — chips and foundation models to Korea, applications to Japan — is where cooperation begins
JOYFUL Labs as the official Korean partner overseeing Korean company recruitment.
A blueprint for Korea and Japan to walk together through 'co-evolution (gongjinhwa)' — rather than competition — in the AI-era media and entertainment industry was laid out in a Japanese hot-spring village on June 12, at the ASTEEDA Executive Salon 2026 session 'Media and Entertainment in the AI Era and Korea–Japan Co-evolution' in Nozawa Onsen, Nagano Prefecture.
Genichi Tamatsuka, President and CEO of Lotte Holdings; Samseog Ko, Distinguished Chair Professor at Dongguk University, a member of Korea's Presidential National AI Strategy Committee and Jung Sang-won, CEO of ESTsoft, shared the panel stage.
Tracing the AI value chain, they noted that Korean and Japanese strengths diverge layer by layer — chips, foundation models, applications — and held that this very asymmetry is the joining point of co-evolution. Ko proposed creating a 'Korea–Japan EnterTech Open Innovation Track,' a standing matching channel between large corporations and startups backed by both governments.