- From lawmaker to senior presidential secretary? A difficult decision to make change
- Proposed watching Nuri launch together with President Lee, celebrated together
- "Satellite constellation" succeeds in 5th launch... allows more frequent imaging
- Laying foundation for private space industry development and securing competitiveness
- Ultimate goal is the Moon... building reusable launch vehicle before that
- AI hacking? Financial and defense risks were anticipated, but arrived sooner than expected
- Hacking now part of everyday life... AI attacks can only be countered with AI
- Transitioning to continuous AI-driven monitoring system instead of existing structures
- Network separation poses risks... need a system integrating sword and shield
- AI pacing debate? Slowing down cannot be the goal in itself
- Concerns are considered, but AI must be utilized for human progress
■ Broadcast: SBS Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show (FM 103.5 MHz 7:00 – 9:00 AM)
■ Date: Friday, October 9, 2026
■ Host: Attorney Kim Tae-hyun
■ Guest: Lee Hae-min, Senior Presidential Secretary for AI and Future Planning at the Presidential Office
[Kim Tae-hyun]: As announced earlier, we now welcome Lee Hae-min, Senior Presidential Secretary for AI and Future Planning at the Office of the President. We will look into the Nuri rocket project, which can be called a core pillar of future industries, as well as the recent AI hacking issues. Welcome, Senior Secretary.
[Lee Hae-min]: Hello.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Senior Secretary, it is a pleasure to meet you for the first time.
[Lee Hae-min]: Nice to meet you as well. It is also very meaningful since this is my first interview appearance since September 1.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Really? It is an honor.
[Lee Hae-min]: I would like to extend my warmest greetings to our listeners and viewers.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Thank you for choosing us as your first interview outlet; it is truly an honor. Now, Representative—
[Lee Hae-min]: (Laughs) Not "Representative" anymore.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Ah, Senior Secretary. You worked as a lawmaker for a longer period. Is your work quite different between your time as a lawmaker and now as a senior secretary at the presidential office?
[Lee Hae-min]: The roles are different, yes. To explain what that means using a soccer analogy, if the legislature is the place that establishes the rules of the pitch, the government ministries are the players actually running on the field, and the presidential office feels like the coaching staff holding the tactics board next to the head coach. Although our assigned areas differ, we are ultimately looking toward a single goalpost, so I believe our purpose of improving the lives of the public is entirely the same. That is the difference, while the similarity is having the same purpose, and another similarity is that nothing can be achieved alone.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: That makes sense.
[Lee Hae-min]: I keep thinking that real things for the public can only happen when everything comes together in sync.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Do you have any regrets? Giving up your lawmaker badge is not an easy decision.
[Lee Hae-min]: It would be a lie to call it an easy decision. It was certainly a difficult one. However, having worked in the legislature and now working in the presidential office, the roles we can play are distinct as I mentioned earlier, and there are changes we can create now, so I honestly have no regrets. In fact, even when I first became a lawmaker, many people asked me if I regretted it.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: I imagine they did, given your background.
[Lee Hae-min]: Yes, people asked, "Did you leave all of that behind in the U.S.?" But even back then, I had no regrets. If we produce good results now, I believe there will be even fewer regrets and it will be all the more rewarding.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: I see. I heard that the Nuri rocket launch falls under the jurisdiction of the Senior Secretary's Office for AI and Future Planning. The fifth launch was successfully conducted the day before yesterday, wasn't it? You watched that moment together with President Lee Jae-myung, correct?
[Lee Hae-min]: Yes. Actually, a major event was scheduled for that afternoon. Right after that, there was an event declaring the green transition called the KGX (Korea Green Transformation). It would have been better if we could have attended the launch site in person, but we were unable to go. So I suggested watching it together over lunch, and he readily accepted, so we watched it together.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: From what I recall, there was a failed launch in the past.
[Lee Hae-min]: During the first launch, around 2021, there was a failure.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: But this time, watching it with the president, it launched successfully, so the atmosphere must have been wonderful. You must have been very nervous during the countdown.
[Lee Hae-min]: To be honest, I was extremely nervous.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Right?
[Lee Hae-min]: I was supposed to sit there and provide explanations, but I was so nervous that I remember just staring at the screen like this the entire time. At that moment, I think the whole nation held its breath, filled with immense anticipation and nervous tension.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: What did the president say?
[Lee Hae-min]: First of all, he offered congratulations. Then, he immediately commended those who worked hard for it. He already fully understands South Korea's stepping stones toward entering the space industry. He made remarks after the fourth launch last year, and it felt like he was keeping that promise.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Is that so?
[Lee Hae-min]: So step by step, more budget has actually been allocated, and launch frequencies have increased. I think we are seeing the results of that now.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: This launch was the fifth launch of the Nuri rocket. Compared to previous Nuri launches, what makes this fifth launch particularly meaningful?
[Lee Hae-min]: There are actually many special aspects. But if I had to pick one or two, one is that we attempted a satellite constellation for the first time. What a satellite constellation means is that instead of one giant satellite orbiting alone, five satellites operate together across different positions, allowing them to photograph our country more frequently from our perspective.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Yes.
[Lee Hae-min]: So as this satellite constellation is further realized and five more are launched next year, it becomes a crucial technology that allows us to independently secure data much more densely, covering disaster management as well as national defense and security. Furthermore, the fact that Nuri successfully placed all of them into the appropriate orbits and positions makes this extremely meaningful.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Right.
[Lee Hae-min]: Another significance is that the private sector participated extensively this time. Around the world right now, competition in space is fierce.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: The space industry as well.
[Lee Hae-min]: Absolutely. It might be easiest to think of NASA and SpaceX, where many roles are transitioning to the private sector to spur greater industrial development. This time, we laid that groundwork. With Hanwha Aerospace participating significantly, I believe we established a solid foundation for the private space industry to advance even further.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Senior Secretary, as a layman who majored in the humanities, my understanding is that with a satellite constellation, instead of launching just one satellite as before, having five or six orbiting together allows us to see wider and in greater detail—is that right?
[Lee Hae-min]: More frequently.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: More frequently?
[Lee Hae-min]: Yes. If a single satellite orbits, in purely theoretical calculations, it passes overhead once every 24 hours.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Right.
[Lee Hae-min]: But if five are orbiting, the coverage is denser, allowing images to be captured at a much higher frequency.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: So being able to observe more frequently is the core point, right?
[Lee Hae-min]: Exactly.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: But how much and what exactly can be seen with this?
[Lee Hae-min]: The camera resolution was significantly upgraded this time as well, so I believe it can resolve objects within one meter.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Really? That's quite impressive.
[Lee Hae-min]: Yes, though we might need to verify the specifics. Events like floods don't wait 24 hours to occur. Being able to capture images more densely and with higher frequency is probably the biggest benefit.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: And to touch on what you mentioned earlier: previously, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) led these efforts, but this time the private sector took on a substantial portion. While they are still collaborating, as you mentioned with Hanwha Aerospace, what does it signify that the private sector played such a large role?
[Lee Hae-min]: As I mentioned earlier, when looking at the global development of the aerospace industry, the government alone cannot hold onto the industry forever.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: That's true.
[Lee Hae-min]: At a certain point, the private sector needs to develop alongside it, and the world has already moved in that direction. In South Korea's case, it had been difficult to attempt, but this time private personnel participated on a truly massive scale. That means next year we can shift the center of gravity a bit more, allowing the technology we have accumulated to be transferred further. What advantage does that bring? It creates competition within the industry. And competition means that when launching satellites aboard launch vehicles, the cost of using those launch vehicles can decrease. Therefore, I see this as a critical step in securing competitiveness in space.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Senior Secretary, one final question on the Nuri rocket: what is our ultimate goal for the Nuri project?
[Lee Hae-min]: The ultimate goal is already planned all the way to reaching the Moon.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: The Moon.
[Lee Hae-min]: Before that, one of the things we must achieve is building a reusable launch vehicle. An R&D project has already been allocated and is underway for reusable launch vehicles. So ultimately, the aim is to rank among the top tier in the space industry and send missions to the Moon.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Understood. Up to now, we've discussed good news about Nuri, but now we must turn to an unpleasant topic.
[Lee Hae-min]: Is there an unpleasant topic?
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Hacking.
[Lee Hae-min]: Hacking is bad, indeed. That's right.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Regarding this AI hacking situation, the financial sector has been breached, and two mega-churches in Seoul were also breached, according to ongoing reports. Have you looked into this?
[Lee Hae-min]: In fact, incidents such as personal data leaks or hacking attempts are occurring more than 30 times every day right now.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Ah, constantly.
[Lee Hae-min]: Currently.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: No. The frequency has increased even more now, and while there are various reasons for that, speaking of the financial sector, when I served as a lawmaker, I worked on the Science and ICT Committee in the first half and then moved to the National Policy Committee. Many people asked why National Policy. But my answer was that while we have established the basic framework for AI, in the current situation, AI and security are synonymous words.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Yes.
[Lee Hae-min]: I believed that the most powerful AI could provide the strongest security. Looking at our country's current situation, I judged that finance and defense were the two most vulnerable areas. That was why I transferred to the National Policy Committee to quickly address the financial sector. Seeing the financial sector being breached now, I thought, "This is serious; it came sooner than expected."
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Saying it came sooner than expected means you anticipated this day would come.
[Lee Hae-min]: Of course. In my heart, I knew such things could happen immediately, but I had hoped it would arrive a bit later, after we were fully prepared. Why it happens more frequently now—though I'm not sure if we'll have time to discuss it in detail later—is that hacking in the past required extremely advanced skills, and people thought it belonged exclusively to those with technical expertise.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Highly skilled hackers.
[Lee Hae-min]: People with technical expertise, including white-hat hackers. We thought it belonged to that realm. But now we are entering an era where people use AI, or AI directly conducts hacking, so there is a real sense that hacking is becoming an everyday occurrence.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: That means people like me, who cannot operate computers freely and only do basic searches, could breach systems if we have a good AI tool that can perform AI hacking—to put it in extreme terms.
[Lee Hae-min]: That's right.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Isn't that even more dangerous?
[Lee Hae-min]: It is. And now, even the person using it might not know what they are actually doing.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: That is truly frightening.
[Lee Hae-min]: AI's capabilities can be used as a sword, and they can also be used as a shield. The sword and shield are now locked together. We are in a situation where attacks driven by AI must ultimately be defended by AI. I would like to express it this way: as I consistently pointed out during inquiries last year, the phase before recognizing an incident and the phase after recognizing it are different. The prior phase must be transitioned rapidly into a continuous system. A continuous system means that if hacking or security threats become routine through AI, an ongoing AI-driven monitoring system and a system to continuously issue alerts whenever one is triggered must be established.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Yes.
[Lee Hae-min]: And from the moment an incident is detected, more focus must be placed on how to handle it quickly and how to prevent secondary damage.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Yes.
[Lee Hae-min]: That is why I view this as a very high priority, and the presidential office views it as an immense priority as well. In this era shifted toward AI hacking, the conventional structure—where the Ministry of the Interior and Safety handles administrative networks, the Personal Information Protection Commission handles personal data, and KISA (Korea Internet & Security Agency) together with the Ministry of Science and ICT handles the private sector—is no longer suitable. That structure does not fit. When a massive disaster occurs, our disaster response system activates urgently. We are currently working to change the entire structure toward that kind of model.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: When you say "currently working," you mean plans are being prepared to establish comprehensive countermeasures that integrate management, right?
[Lee Hae-min]: Yes.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Also, the media has raised the possibility that a Chinese national in their 20s might be behind this hacking. What is the government's assessment?
[Lee Hae-min]: First, my stance on such incidents—as was the case with Coupang last year—is that we must look separately at the tools actually used, the person or group that used them, and their intentions. When related reports first emerged, there were continuous mentions that an open-weight model using open source developed in China was utilized.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Yes.
[Lee Hae-min]: But that model can be used worldwide. Who used it in which country is a matter for investigation, so my position is that we should separate the realm of investigation from the realm of ensuring safety and defense. So while the investigation runs its course, we are focusing a bit more on how to defend against hacking that uses open-weight models, open source, or publicly available models, and how to keep the shield I mentioned operating continuously. That is because the investigative side must await the investigation's conclusions.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Understood. Then your office, the Senior Secretary's Office for AI and Future Planning, is currently working on building this shield, correct?
[Lee Hae-min]: The sword and the shield are the same right now.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: As you mentioned earlier, different agencies used to handle data breaches, but you noted the need to integrate them into one. Is something being prepared?
[Lee Hae-min]: In terms of governance, I attended a related ministerial meeting presided over by the Prime Minister in the morning not long ago. The government's view is that this must not happen again and countermeasures must be established swiftly, so we are first looking at governance. Simultaneously, security inspections of the financial sector—and not just finance, but strategic industries and areas that directly affect citizens' lives—are being conducted with great urgency.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: As you noted, breaches in finance and national defense would be the most dangerous.
[Lee Hae-min]: Yes.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: That is so true. Security and finance are directly tied to our daily lives. Can this be stopped right away?
[Lee Hae-min]: Right now, the very first step is the security inspection I mentioned. Security inspections are the primary task, and conducting inspections means countermeasures come alongside them as a pair. Directives have been issued across all sectors to carry this out as the top priority.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: If AI hackers use AI as a sword to break in, the shield must also be AI, correct?
[Lee Hae-min]: It must be AI.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Are AI shields capable of blocking AI hacking currently deployed in our financial sector or defense sector?
[Lee Hae-min]: Some places have them, while others do not. The greatest difficulty in the financial sector is that we previously relied on network separation to maintain security. When network separation is implemented, it initially feels like a very sturdy fortress, but the inside becomes a sterile room, making it even more vulnerable. Therefore, system-wise, I often refer to "security by design" or "safety by design." The entire system needs to change so that the concepts of the sword and shield are incorporated from the initial design phase, and that is also underway.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Understood. Whenever these issues arise, the debate over pacing AI development comes up. People in the U.S. are also frequently saying that AI is advancing too fast and that it's scary now. What is our government's stance on this?
[Lee Hae-min]: Everyone already understands why the issue of pacing is being raised. However, from South Korea's perspective, those who possess frontier models might say that. Yet I believe South Korea is virtually the only country capable of advancing to that stage while addressing all those concerns simultaneously. Therefore, I believe slowing down the pace should not be the goal in itself. Their worries and concerns are about ensuring the safety of those using it and making sure it contributes to human progress. That should be the objective; slowing the pace itself should not be the goal.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Understood. Finally, with about a minute left: what is the progress on "AI for Everyone," the president's campaign pledge to develop a Korean-style ChatGPT?
[Lee Hae-min]: Three consortiums recently conducted tests, and starting from the end of the year, we plan to roll it out to the public step by step, beginning with key or fully prepared areas.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: How will people be able to use it once it is released?
[Lee Hae-min]: We will promote that as well, but it can be accessed through widely used chatbots and similar platforms. Our stance is that it should permeate naturally. Rather than requiring users to visit a specific place to use it, the plan is to implement it sequentially so the public can directly feel the impact of "AI for Everyone," even if it works in the background.
[Kim Tae-hyun]: Understood. We will wrap it up here today. We have been speaking with Lee Hae-min, Senior Presidential Secretary for AI and Future Planning. Thank you.
[Lee Hae-min]: Thank you.
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