AI law and policy in South Korea
4 instruments relevant to AI in South Korea are indexed here, 3 of them binding law, 2 of which name AI or deepfakes in their titles.
Governance readiness 10 of 10 points on the governance readiness index, which records how much machinery exists, not how strict it is. AI Governance Readiness Index This site Our own editorial coding from primary legal sources, not an objective measurement. Every score cites a specific instrument and article. "Readiness" means the machinery exists to govern AI. It is emphatically not a judgement that the resulting rules are good, proportionate, or well enforced. Cite AI Safety Tracker, "AI Governance Readiness Index". https://aisafetytracker.org/methodology/governance-readiness/. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
Statutes
Act of Parliament. Binding on everyone it applies to.
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National Assembly of the Republic of Korea
In force from January 2026. Duties on high-impact AI in listed sectors, labelling of generative output, and a domestic representative requirement for large foreign providers. Administrative fines were given a grace period of about a year, so the obligations bind before the penalties do. Cited in the CSET translation, because Korea's own statute database returns no stable English URL.
- safety
- transparency
- labelling
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National Assembly of the Republic of Korea
Includes a right to refuse or seek an explanation of a fully automated decision, added in 2023. Enforced by the Personal Information Protection Commission, which has been among the more active regulators on generative AI.
- privacy
- transparency
Rules made under an Act
Rules, regulations or codes made under an Act. Binding.
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Ministry of Science and ICT
Approved by the cabinet in January 2026 and in force with the Act. Sets the detail the Act leaves to decree, including the safety duties on systems trained with 1e26 FLOP or more of cumulative compute that also meet two further conditions, and how generated output is to be labelled.
- safety
- labelling
Binding on government only
Binds government agencies only, not the wider market.
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Ministry of Science and ICT
National evaluation capacity, established alongside the framework Act. Korea is one of a small number of jurisdictions with both a horizontal AI statute and a body able to test models against it.
- safety
About this index
Compiled here from primary instruments and licensed MIT.
3 of the 4 instruments here are binding law, and 2 of those name AI. The remainder apply to AI without naming it, so a keyword search of the statute book does not find them.
Topics covered: labelling, privacy, safety, transparency. A build check probes every citation on this page, because a link that returns a 404 looks like evidence and is not.
This is not legal advice. It is not a compliance checklist and it is not exhaustive. Commencement dates, proposals and enforcement positions move; the review date is on every record. If something here is wrong, say so and it gets fixed and listed rather than quietly patched.