Wednesday, May 6, 2026

News

Busan By-Election Intensifies as Presidential AI Secretary Joins the Race

Alexander Eid

On April 28, South Korea’s Presidential Secretary for AI Ha Jung-woo resigned his position to run for a National Assembly in Busan during the June 3 elections, shaking up Blue House-led technology policy ahead of a high-stakes political moment.

Ha, a former executive at leading domestic tech firm Naver, rose to prominence off the back of his appointment as the first ever AI secretary - a position created by President Lee Jae Myung to drive forward his administration’s effort to position South Korea as a “top three AI powerhouse.” In that role, the 48-year-old AI developer previously associated with the creation of Naver’s LLM HyperClova X, became the standard bearer for South Korea’s “sovereign AI” initiative, a multibillion, multi-pronged effort to cultivate the country’s AI ecosystem from foundational infrastructure to a fully domestic flagship model.

However, ahead of the June 3 elections, politics intervened. On voting day, South Koreans will go to the polls to choose their provincial governors and city mayors, but a small number of by-elections for vacant National Assembly seats will be held simultaneously. Among these, the Busan Buk District A seat is up for grabs thanks to its previous occupant – Democratic Party (DP) Rep. Jeon Jae-su – resigning to run for Busan mayor.

Jeon’s seat is strategically important for the DP. For one, it was the one district out of Busan’s 18 that the DP won in 2024, giving it symbolic importance to the party ahead of an election in which it is expected to dominate amid the opposition People Power Party’s (PPP) deep dysfunction. The logic is that if the DP can keep its seat in the conservative leading Busan, its electoral strength will be assured even in some of the most unfavorable territory in the country.

For two, former PPP party leader Han Dong-hoon is running for the seat as an independent. Han – who made the courageous but politically controversial decision to oppose President Yoon Suk Yeol despite leading Yoon’s party following the declaration of martial law in December 2024 – retains a strong base of individual support among conservatives despite the broader malaise affecting his party. Han’s victory would lend him much needed political credibility to check the power of the Lee Jae Myung government better than the current PPP leadership.

In this context, and at the strong behest of the DP, Ha decided to make a play at politics. Ha is a strong candidate on paper: a Busan native and nationally recognized figure closely associated with a widely popular president. However, as the gaffs of his early candidacy have showcased, he is not a practiced politician. Some also argue that Ha’s decision to leave the administration came at an inopportune moment, introducing uncertainty at a time when the government’s focus rests squarely on its sovereign AI ambitions.

Nevertheless, with just one month to go before election day, Ha leads in the polls against Han and the PPP’s official candidate Park Min-sik, highlighting the value of the DP’s strategic move. Of course, anything can happen in politics, but for the time being Ha’s chances look good and, at minimum, the Busan Buk District A election will be a key race to watch on June 3.

U.S.-South Korea Spat over Unification Minister’s Disclosure of New North Korean Nuclear Site

Sophia Shum Gagnier

The United States has reportedly restricted some intelligence sharing operations with South Korea following Unification Minister Chung Dong-young’s naming of the North Korean region of Kusong as a site of nuclear enrichment on March 6. In a parliamentary meeting, Chung mentioned Kusong alongside other more well known nuclear sites in testimony before the National Assembly, with remarks from the meeting later becoming public.

President Lee Jae Myung has publicly denied that any member of his government disclosed classified information, calling allegations of impropriety “absurd” and highlighting that the Kusong facility has been public knowledge for years. To that end, reports have circulated about Kusong’s uranium enrichment since the mid-2010s. Chung has also cited such public reports in his own defense against calls for his resignation or removal by the opposition party. Despite the public reporting on Kusong, Chung is the first government official from either the United States or South Korea to publicly recognize it as a nuclear enrichment site.

Reports on the severity, or even existence, of the U.S.-South Korea rift differ. Some government officials, including Sung Il-jong, chair of the National Defense Committee at the National Assembly, claim the Kusong disclosure has strained the relationship while other National Defense Ministry officials have denied any U.S. protests over Chung’s statement. According to the People Power Party Floor Leader Song Eon Seog, as many as 50 to 100 pages of intelligence updates were shared between the U.S. and South Korea every day before the perceived slight, though he did not disclose to what extent this flow of information has been reduced since.

The diplomatic upset over Chung’s remarks may be less reflective of improper disclosure of controlled information and more of general dissatisfaction with South Korea’s policy. Some have stipulated that the U.S.-South Korea relationship has soured over Seoul’s policy ambiguity towards North Korea, though South Korea’s perceived lack of support for the Iran war and the long negotiations over a trade deal may also contribute to the spat. Especially with no allies answering President Trump’s call for backup in the Strait of Hormuz, and renewed calls and specific calls for South Korea to defend its interests in the waterway, the United States’ decision to withhold intelligence may relate more to a pressure campaign than the public recognition of Kusong’s enrichment capacity.

This Week in Korean History

On May 10, 1948, general elections were held for representatives to draft a Korean constitution under the direction of the United Nations, which passed Resolution 112 the year prior to supervise the formation of an independent Korea following the second world war. Because the Soviet Union denied election officials’ access to the north, the elections were only held south of the 38th parallel, with the Syngman Rhee-aligned national police mobilizing voters and managing polling places. In the end, the elections overwhelmingly favored Rhee, who then became South Korea’s first president.