Samseog Ko: “Korea and China Must Become ‘Coevolution Partners,’ Not Just Buyer and Seller”

Scholar proposes joint AI and content development at the Qingdao Multinationals Summit

Keynote at the Korean Multinationals Roundtable, 7th Qingdao Multinationals Summit (QMS)

Calls for joint development and shared overseas expansion in AI and content — Chinese government and businesses respond

“Coevolution” has surfaced as a new grammar for Korea–China economic cooperation. Samseog Ko (고삼석), a chair professor of AI at Dongguk University, told the 7th Qingdao Multinationals Summit (QMS) in Qingdao, Shandong Province, this June that the two countries should move beyond conventional trading partners and become ‘coevolution partners’ who develop technology and build markets together. Chinese government officials and corporate executives responded with agreement.

The old division of labor — one side supplying technology and products while the other opens its market — is unraveling fast as artificial intelligence (AI) rises. China leads in data, manufacturing AI and infrastructure scale, while Korea holds an edge in semiconductors and AI application services; as the field of innovation that neither can reach alone keeps widening, the case for a cooperation model built on joint development and shared risk has grown stronger. The two governments’ declaration of a “full normalization of relations” at last year’s APEC summit in Gyeongju cleared a path for the shift.

“The leaders built the road; now let the companies follow it”

Speaking as an invited keynote at the Korean Multinationals Entrepreneurs Roundtable, Ko said the era in which “one side unilaterally provides technology and products while the other gives up its market has already ended,” calling instead for “a genuine coevolution ecosystem in which the two countries develop technology together, build markets together and share risk together.”

He likened coevolution to an ecosystem: just as different species compete yet drive one another’s evolution, Korean and Chinese firms should become partners in mutual growth rather than mere counterparties. Qingdao, close to Korea, he described as “living proof of coevolution” — a place where companies from both countries have put down roots and grown together.

Ko is a media and AI policy expert who serves on a subcommittee of the presidential National AI Strategy Committee and previously sat as a standing commissioner of the Korea Communications Commission. His 2021 book published in Beijing, “A Completely New Future Is Coming,” became a bestseller in China and is used as a text for university students there, reflecting deep ties with Chinese academia and industry.

AI and content: the two axes of coevolution

Ko named AI and content as the priorities for cooperation.

On AI, he assessed China as ahead in vast data, manufacturing AI and infrastructure scale, with Korea competitive in semiconductors, AI application services and creative uses of the technology. When the two sets of strengths meet, he argued, they can produce innovation beyond what either country could reach on its own, and he urged business leaders to pursue joint research and projects rather than simply buying and selling goods.

On content, he noted that the Korean Wave began in China, with K-pop, dramas and films built over three decades, while China has rapidly grown its own ecosystem — web novels, webtoons, micro-dramas and generative-AI content. In the AI era, he said, content companies on both sides should develop new intellectual property (IP) together and go global through each other’s platforms, with Korea’s storytelling meeting China’s scale to open a new chapter of cultural coevolution.

“Coevolution is practice, not a declaration” — China responds

At the venue, Ko shared his coevolution vision with Chinese government officials and IT executives. His proposal — that the two countries plan and research together and jointly enter third markets such as Southeast Asia — drew support from figures including a vice chairman of Hisense, according to participants.

He also discussed cooperation with Chinese counterparts including Song Weidong (宋衛東), secretary-general of the China International Council for the Promotion of Multinational Corporations (CICPMC), a co-host of the event.

He closed by calling coevolution “practice, not a declaration”: every conversation and every business card exchanged is a start, he said, with the remaining task being to identify concrete coevolution items country by country and company by company.

A summit with some 700 participants

The 7th Qingdao Multinationals Summit ran June 15–17 in Qingdao, Shandong Province, under the theme “Multinationals and China — Advancing with the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) for Innovation and Future.”

Co-hosted by China’s Ministry of Commerce, the Shandong provincial government, the Qingdao municipal government and the CICPMC, it drew some 700 participants, including representatives of government agencies, international organizations, multinationals and business associations at home and abroad. At the opening on June 16, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng (韓正) delivered a four-point proposal centered on sharing China’s market and on cooperation in industry, innovation and openness.

Multinational representatives from 36 countries and regions attended. Yan Dong (鄢東), vice minister of commerce, said a research report titled “China’s Multinationals” would be released during the summit, covering China’s opening policies, market opportunities and innovation outlook for the 15th Five-Year Plan period.

Wen Nuan (溫暖), vice governor of Shandong, said 23 parallel events would be held across four areas: investment promotion, trade matching, industrial exchange and regional cooperation.

The CICPMC is a national-level civilian diplomatic and economic body holding Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), serving as a bridge for multinationals entering China and for Chinese firms going abroad. It maintains close ties with Korean business, co-hosting an annual Korea–China Business Leaders Meeting in partnership with the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF).

The change in a China that increasingly combines heavy industry with nimble, lightweight sectors was on display at the summit. Within a Chinese economic ecosystem that has added sophistication to sheer scale, finding a way for two neighbors — inseparable geographically and historically — to prosper together is, in Ko’s view, where the idea of coevolution begins.