GYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province — President Lee Jae Myung, in his closing remarks at the APEC summit on Saturday, vowed to continue measures toward peace with North Korea, emphasizing South Korea’s commitment to stability and dialogue on the Korean Peninsula.
Noting that military confrontation, escalating tensions, and nuclear issues were undermining stability and cooperation not only on the Korean Peninsula but across the Asia-Pacific region, Lee said that under the principle of resolving issues through dialogue, South Korea aims to usher in a “new era” of peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity on the peninsula.
He told leaders that the South Korean government has already taken preemptive steps to ease military tensions and rebuild trust between the two Koreas.
“Peaceful coexistence on the peninsula will lead to mutual growth for all of Asia,” Lee said.
Earlier in the day, Lee also called on the leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation to join forces to advance artificial intelligence technology and tackle demographic challenges.
Chairing the informal"retreat" session at the Gyeongju Hwabaek International Convention Center on the second day of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, Lee said the APEC member economies were all confronting challenges arising from the growth of AI and population ageing, while describing APEC as a platform to"incubate ideas to solve the world's problems over the past few decades."
APEC member economies "have the potential and the capacity to proactively cope with the changes with the advent of AI," Lee said in his opening speech Saturday at the venue in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province.
Explaining plans to establish an Asia-Pacific AI Center in South Korea, Lee said the center would support APEC members' cooperation over AI-related policies and narrow the AI divide between APEC members, which will"ultimately contribute to enhancing the regional AI capacity."
Domestically, his government's"AI basic society" policy aims to ensure South Koreans' universal access to AI technologies.
Lee added that the top four countries in AI capacity were all APEC members, meaning there was potential for a region-wide AI powerhouse. The South Korean president did not elaborate, but according to the World Intellectual Property Organization's estimate as of 2024, China, Japan, South Korea and the United States were the top four countries in terms of the number of generative AI-related patent families.
Lee said South Korea was not alone in facing a demographic crisis due to low birth rates and population aging. APEC members' population growth has gradually slowed in the past three years, and their combined population was projected to decline starting in 2035, he added.
To brace for the crisis, Lee proposed a joint framework for APEC to jointly deal with the demographic shift, warning that, if left unchecked, it could sap economic growth and shrink the labor force, among other societal challenges.
According to the presidential office, documents regarding these two agenda items were to be adopted as the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting for this year in Gyeongju closes Saturday.
