Countries / South Korea

South Korea

Korea's AI Basic Act took effect on 22 Jan 2026 with high-impact AI, labelling and domestic-representative duties, but MSIT has deferred fines and investigations for at least a year.

AI framework lawApproach
3Rules tracked
3Binding and in force
0Upcoming deadlines

Latest developments in South Korea

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In force (3)

  • AI Basic Act
    LawNational Assembly; Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT)Binding

    Horizontal AI law with promotion measures plus obligations for 'high-impact' AI (risk management, explanations, user protection, human oversight, documentation), generative AI notice and labelling (deepfakes must be clearly recognisable), safety duties for high-compute models (≥10^26 FLOPs per decree), and domestic-representative duties for large foreign AI firms. An amendment (Act No. 21311, 20 Jan 2026) renamed the national committee the National AI Strategy Committee and expanded support measures, some effective 21 Jul 2026.

    In forceEffective 22 Jan 2026
  • AI Basic Act Enforcement Decree
    RegulationGovernment of Korea (Presidential Decree); MSITBinding

    Presidential Decree No. 36053 implementing the AI Basic Act: defines high-impact AI criteria, labelling methods (machine-readable watermarks allowed for general outputs; deepfakes need human-recognisable labels), the compute threshold for safety duties, and domestic-representative thresholds (prior-year revenue ≥ KRW 1 trillion, AI-service revenue ≥ KRW 10 billion, or ≥ 1 million average daily Korean users).

    In forceEffective 22 Jan 2026
  • AI & Data-Based Administration Act
    LawNational Assembly; Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS)Binding

    Amends and renames the Data-Based Administration Act to create a legal basis for AI use across Korean public bodies: defines AI-based administration, creates AI and data administration officers, a shared AI platform for public institutions, and duties on agencies to train staff, ensure training-data quality and keep inventories of AI services.

    In forceEffective 28 Aug 2026

What the rules require

Obligation types found across South Korea's instruments. Filled dot: imposed by a binding instrument. Ring: guidance only.

Risk classificationAI Basic Act, AI Basic Act Enforcement Decree
Transparency to usersAI Basic Act
Labelling AI contentAI Basic Act, AI Basic Act Enforcement Decree
Impact assessmentAI Basic Act, AI Basic Act Enforcement Decree
Human oversightAI Basic Act
Data governanceAI & Data-Based Administration Act
Frontier model safetyAI Basic Act, AI Basic Act Enforcement Decree
Government use of AIAI & Data-Based Administration Act
PenaltiesAI Basic Act, AI Basic Act Enforcement Decree

Timeline