A former commissioner of the Korea Communications Commission, now Distinguished Chair Professor at Dongguk University, he takes culture, broadcasting and ICT after presenting his co-evolution thesis at CES in January and UKC in August
Speaker of the National Assembly Cho Jung-sik (조정식) on Wednesday afternoon appointed Samseog Ko (고삼석), Distinguished Chair Professor at Dongguk University (동국대학교), as an advisor to the Speaker. His field is culture, broadcasting, and information and communications.
Four advisors were appointed the same day. Jeong Seung (정승), former Vice Minister of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, covers innovation growth; Song Jong-wook (송종욱), former President of Kwangju Bank (광주은행), finance and the economy; and Moon Cheol-woo (문철우), Professor at the SKK Business School of Sungkyunkwan University (성균관대학교), future economic growth.
According to materials released by the Speaker's office, advisors give the Speaker their views on legislative, policy and political matters. The posts once went largely to figures from political circles; in recent years they have gone to specialists from the economy, culture and the arts, and information technology.
Four advisors named; Ko takes culture, broadcasting and ICT
At the ceremony, Cho said successive Speakers had appointed specialists as advisors, and that this round brought in four people with expertise across innovation growth, finance and the economy, future growth, and culture, broadcasting and telecommunications. He said he intends to give particular attention to policy and legislation affecting livelihoods and the economy, and asked the advisors to speak up on bills before the Assembly that merit closer examination.
The stated aim is to bring the working experience of private-sector specialists into the Speaker's duties, unlike the past practice of drawing mainly on political figures (Digital Daily, August 27). Asia Today reported the same day that the appointments are meant to strengthen the legislature's policy expertise for reviving the domestic economy and securing future growth engines. The advisors cover legislative, policy and political affairs across state issues.
The timing sits just before the regular session opens. Cho said policy and bill reviews, the state audit and the budget review all begin in earnest once the session starts, and asked the advisors to share their views as issues arise. Ko is the only one of the four covering media and content.
From KCC commissioner to the Presidential AI committee
Ko served as Innovation Secretary in the Office of the President under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, and as Standing Commissioner and Acting Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission (방송통신위원회), handling broadcasting and telecommunications regulation and media policy at the implementation level.
He is now Distinguished Chair Professor at Dongguk University’s College of Advanced Convergence and a subcommittee member of the Presidential Committee on National AI Strategy (국가인공지능전략위원회). His books include Next Hallyu (넥스트 한류) and The 5G Hyper-connected Society (5G 초연결사회). A media regulation career and an AI policy advisory role now overlap in one person, and the advisory brief itself groups culture, broadcasting and telecommunications together.
Seven months into the AI Framework Act; enforcement grace period runs to next year
The policy agenda is already in motion. Korea's Framework Act on AI Development and Establishment of a Foundation for Trust took effect on January 22, 2026. The Ministry of Science and ICT set out transparency and safety obligations and criteria for high-impact AI, requiring deepfake output to carry a mark users can recognize while allowing digital watermarks for other AI output such as animation and webtoons (Boan News, January 21).
Because the enforcement decree provides a grace period of at least one year before fines apply (Ministry of Science and ICT decree notice, November 12, 2025), the point at which labeling duties and high-impact obligations carry penalties moves into early 2027. Broadcasters, content companies and creative studios still face the decree and notification work in between.
Two stages this year — CES in January, UKC in August — and one thesis
Co-evolution (공진화) is a term Ko has returned to all year. On January 7 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, he gave the keynote at the Next K-Wave EnterTech Forum @ CES 2026 under the title Co-evolution: Next K-Wave Initiative.
There he proposed an Entertainmnent tech Alliance bringing together OTT and AI platform companies, content studios and startups from Korea and the United States, arguing that K-Content should move from being an export to something built jointly.
Speaking as a member of the Presidential Committee on National AI Strategy, he said the government is aiming to become one of the world's top three AI powers, with an AI-based cultural powerhouse as one pillar, and listed AI-enabled creative ecosystems, the AI transition of the K-Content industry, and the joint global expansion of K-Content and Korean AI as policy directions (Herald Business and EBN, January 16).
he has argued that the unit of innovation is shifting from products to systems and that AI has become creative infrastructure rather than only industrial tooling (ZDNet Korea, December 23, 2025 and March 16, 2026). His framing of content competition as EnterTech competition — AI, creator ecosystems, platforms and fandom combined — maps closely onto the brief he now holds.
He returned to the same material in the United States earlier this month. On August 7 in Orlando, Florida, he gave the keynote at the FutureTech Forum in UKC 2026, presenting the same frame of content and technology reshaping each other as both grow.
The forum was hosted by K-EnterTech Hub (주식회사 케이엔터테크허브), with Acryl (아크릴), Studio Meta-K (스튜디오메타케이) and SBS as main sponsors. Five companies presented on AI infrastructure, virtual production and broadcast delivery: Acryl, Ludens Partners (루덴스 파트너스), HelloWorks (헬로웍스), Studio Meta-K, and Sinclair (싱클레어) with CAST.ERA (캐스트에라). In a written address, SBS President Bang Moon-shin (방문신) noted the gap between drama production costs and broadcast advertising rules and called for global partnerships.
UKC 2026 (US-Korea Conference) is the annual science and technology conference of the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA, 재미한인과학기술자협회), founded in 1971. This year's edition ran August 5–8 in Orlando and included an AI Signature Symposium on the U.S. Department of Energy's Genesis Mission, which put Korea–U.S. cooperation on AI on the agenda.
“Culture now links the economy, diplomacy and innovation”
In remarks released through the Speaker's office, Ko said that led by K-Content, Korean culture has become a core strategic asset linking the economy, diplomacy and technological innovation, beyond soft power. He said he would draw on his policy and administrative experience and his global network to help build an inclusive ecosystem in which K-Content grows together with the rest of the world.
He added that he would take a role in preparing the Assembly's vision and policy direction so that Korea responds early to the changes AI will bring and establishes itself as a genuine global power in both culture and AI.
Profile — Samseog Ko
Current: Distinguished Chair Professor, College of Advanced Convergence, Dongguk University; subcommittee member, Presidential Committee on National AI Strategy
Former: Standing Commissioner and Acting Chairman, Korea Communications Commission; Innovation Secretary, Office of the President
Books: Next Hallyu; The 5G Hyper-connected Society. Keynote, FutureTech Forum in UKC 2026, Orlando, August 2026
Sources
Office of the Speaker, National Assembly — press release and notice on the appointment of advisors to the Speaker, August 27, 2026 (appointment, profiles, remarks by Cho Jung-sik and Samseog Ko)
Boan News, January 21, 2026 — AI Framework Act taking effect January 22 and its labeling requirements
Ministry of Science and ICT — legislative notice of the AI Framework Act enforcement decree, November 12, 2025 (grace period of at least one year)
K-EnterTech Hub — FutureTech Forum in UKC 2026 program and run-of-show materials, August 2026 (date, venue, program, presenting companies, SBS written address)
KSEA — UKC 2026 official program (conference dates, AI Signature Symposium)
Digital Daily, August 27, 2026, by Kang So-hyun — the appointment, its stated aim, the advisory role and Ko's career
Asia Today, August 27, 2026 — report on the appointment, its stated purpose and the advisory fields
Herald Business, January 16, 2026 — Ko's CES 2026 keynote and the government's AI policy directions
EBN, January 16, 2026 — the CES 2026 keynote theme and forum details
ZDNet Korea columns by Samseog Ko, December 23, 2025 and March 16, 2026 — innovation units and AI as creative infrastructure
Note: material in quotation marks is as recorded in released materials; unquoted sentences summarize those remarks.