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NewsMaterial3 min readDisconfirmAI Editorial

Im Jae-hwan, Former Chairman of the Korea EdTech Industry Association: Educational Sovereign AI Is Not About Building Walls, But Synergy in Governance and Industrial Ecosystem

Im Jae-hwan, CEO of South Korean EdTech company Ubion, argues that the stagnation of public education AI stems from social conflict, emotional resistance, and a missing industrial ecosystem. He advocates that educational sovereign AI should transcend technological nationalism, treating data governance as a necessary condition and teacher capability alongside industrial ecosystem development as sufficient conditions, thereby simultaneously achieving innovation in public education and exports of K-EdTech.

2026-10-28 15:00 GMT+8

The application of AI in South Korea's public primary and secondary education has stalled, while universities and corporate training programs rapidly absorb artificial intelligence technologies. In an expert commentary published on October 28, 2026, in The Electronic News (Electronic Daily), Im Jae-hwan, CEO of EdTech firm Ubion and former chairman of the Korea EdTech Industry Association, pointed out that this stagnation is not due to a lack of technical capability. Rather, it results from a tangle of social conflicts, emotional resistance, and feelings of marginalization within the EdTech industry accumulated during past pushes for AI digital textbooks, which have prevented the formation of a symbiotic ecosystem between the public education sector and the industry.

Im believes that breaking through this destructive cycle of pro-and-con debates requires a new path centered on 'educational sovereign AI,' proposed at the national level. He explicitly distinguishes this concept from technological nationalism: educational sovereign AI is listed as a mandatory national task alongside defense, health, and manufacturing. Its core logic lies in protecting national educational sovereignty and data while balancingly managing the benefits and risks brought by AI, rather than simply erecting walls against technology.

He proposes distinguishing between necessary and sufficient conditions for educational sovereign AI. At the necessary condition level, an independent AI education data center and management governance architecture must be built to securely protect learning data and support public education models. However, he emphasizes that the true sufficient conditions do not lie in infrastructure itself, but in the correct application of AI in classrooms—specifically, the organic interlocking of innovative AI pedagogy, teachers equipped with AI capabilities, and a private EdTech ecosystem supporting this process. While recent moves by South Korean education authorities to emphasize foundational literacy skills such as reading and writing as prerequisites for AI literacy represent a correct diagnosis, Im considers this merely a minimum condition.

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At the institutional level, Im calls for a comprehensive revision of the 'E-Learning Industry Development Act,' drafted over twenty years ago, or its transformation into an 'EdTech Industry Promotion Act.' He notes that the National Assembly of South Korea has already submitted amendments to fully transition the E-Learning Industry Development Act to the AI era. The core content involves changing the law's name to the 'EdTech Industry Promotion Act' and expanding the definition of EdTech from online learning to cover a complete industrial ecosystem encompassing software, content, data, platforms, and hardware. He also recommends establishing a dedicated EdTech Revitalization Institute and an EdTech Support Center as governance bodies to drive public-private cooperation.

Im sets the goals of educational sovereign AI in two directions: quality innovation in public education and the acquisition of global competitive advantage. He particularly emphasizes that true educational sovereign AI does not build walls for oneself; instead, it uses South Korea's proven models to help global partner countries establish their own educational sovereignty, forming a symbiotic ecosystem, while simultaneously serving as a driving force for K-EdTech exports.

It is worth noting that Im's identity is that of an EdTech enterprise manager and former industry association chairman. His advocacy for industry-promoting legislation, the establishment of revitalization agencies, and ecosystem construction is directly related to the commercial interests of his sector. Furthermore, the binding of educational sovereignty with industrial exports in his argument raises questions about whether the goal of educational publicness should be subordinated to the logic of industrial growth.

The original article, titled regarding how to advance educational sovereign AI, fully presents Im's policy proposals. Its core contribution lies in disentangling sovereign AI from the popular understanding of technological protectionism, proposing a dual-layer condition framework of governance infrastructure and industrial ecosystem, and providing specific legislative and institutional pathways. The value of this argument does not lie in proving that a certain policy will inevitably succeed, but in revealing the institutional bottlenecks causing the stagnation of AI in South Korea's public education, as well as the specific visions within the industry for breakthrough paths.

Sources

  • etnews.com미래를 보는 창 - 전자신문↗
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