AIWiki
Malaysia
Back to all articles
Ethics & Policyai regulationsouth koreaai framework act

AI Regulation in South Korea

4 min readUpdated September 2026
AI Framework Act
Jurisdiction
South Korea
Full name
Framework Act on AI Development and Establishment of a Foundation for Trustworthiness
Adopted
21 January 2025
In force
22 January 2026
Key features
High-impact AI obligations; generative AI labelling; national AI committee
Related
EU AI Act, AI Regulation in Malaysia
AI regulation in South Korea is primarily governed by the Framework Act on Artificial Intelligence Development and Establishment of a Foundation for Trustworthiness, usually called the AI Framework Act. Adopted on 21 January 2025 and effective from 22 January 2026, it was the first comprehensive AI law adopted in the Asia-Pacific region, and is watched internationally as an alternative to the European Union's AI Act: lighter than the EU's risk-based prohibitions, but more binding than the voluntary guidelines common elsewhere in Asia.[1][2][5]

Background

South Korea is one of the world's most digitally advanced economies, home to large technology firms such as Samsung, SK, LG, Naver and Kakao, and has promoted AI as a strategic industry since the late 2010s. Numerous AI-related bills were proposed in the National Assembly between 2021 and 2024, split between innovation-first and safety-first approaches. These efforts converged into a single framework act, adopted in January 2025 with a one-year transition period before enforcement began.[1][2][3]

Key provisions

The Act defines artificial intelligence and establishes a national AI policy framework, including a presidential committee to coordinate strategy. Its operative obligations focus on high-impact AI — systems used in areas such as healthcare, energy and public services — which providers must assess for risk and manage with human oversight. The law also requires transparency for generative AI: certain AI-generated outputs that could be mistaken for real content, including deepfakes, must be labelled.[1][2][4]

Support measures sit alongside the obligations: the government is charged with fostering the domestic AI industry, helping smaller companies meet compliance costs, and promoting safe development, including through a national AI safety institute established in 2024. Enforcement is administrative, with fines for violations, and the framework is expected to be refined through an enforcement decree and later amendments as the technology evolves.[1][3][4]

Impact and debate

The Act positions South Korea as a rule-maker as well as a technology producer, giving its domestic industry a clear compliance benchmark while other Asian economies — including Japan, Singapore and Malaysia — pursue lighter-touch or sectoral approaches. Industry groups have welcomed the certainty but warned about compliance costs for startups, and civil-society observers have argued that the obligations on high-impact AI could be strengthened. Because the law took effect only in January 2026, its practical effects are still taking shape.[1][2][3]

>See Also

🇲🇾Malaysian Context

🇲🇾 Malaysia has taken a guidelines-first path to AI governance: the Malaysia AI Governance Framework published in 2024 sets out principles for responsible use, and the National AI Office (NAIO), established in December 2024, coordinates national AI policy alongside MDEC's digital-economy programmes. Malaysia's existing laws — including the Personal Data Protection Act 2010, as amended in 2024 — apply to AI systems that handle personal data, but there is not yet a dedicated AI act, making South Korea's framework a closely studied reference as Malaysia weighs its own legislation.

The Korean experience offers Malaysia several practical lessons: a transition period between adoption and enforcement gives businesses time to prepare; support programmes help small firms absorb compliance costs; and generative-AI labelling rules are especially relevant to Malaysian concerns over deepfakes and online fraud, an area watched by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the National Cyber Security Agency. South Korea is also a significant investor in Malaysia's electronics sector, giving the two economies plenty of reason to compare notes on AI rules.

References

  1. ↑Future of Privacy Forum. (2025). South Korea's new AI Framework Act: a balancing act between innovation and regulation. https://fpf.org/blog/south-koreas-new-ai-framework-act-a-balancing-act-between-innovation-and-regulation/
  2. ↑CSET. (2025). Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and Establishment of Trust. https://cset.georgetown.edu/publication/south-korea-ai-law-2025/
  3. ↑White & Case. (2026). AI Watch: Global regulatory tracker — South Korea. https://www.whitecase.com/insight-our-thinking/ai-watch-global-regulatory-tracker-south-korea
  4. ↑OneTrust. (2025). South Korea's new AI law: what it means for organizations. https://www.onetrust.com/blog/south-koreas-new-ai-law-what-it-means-for-organizations-and-how-to-prepare/
  5. ↑Korea AI Basic Act information portal. (2026). https://aibasicact.kr/
Back to all articles