South Korea's Lee hopes to tackle AI and demographic changes

1/11/2025 11:09

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung hopes to cooperate with Asia-Pacific countries to tackle issues related to artificial intelligence and demographic changes at an annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.



The APEC host nation has ambitions to become one of the world's top-three AI powers, but its economic fortunes face challenges from a rapidly ageing society with its birthrate in 2024 the lowest in the world.



Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were attending a session to discuss how to navigate the rapid take-up of AI and respond to the demographic changes shared by many of the countries in the region.



The 21-member APEC bloc accounts for 50% of global trade and 61% of world GDP.



Lee on Friday met Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang on the sidelines of the summit, where the U.S. AI chipmaker announced partnerships with South Korean companies.



Lee said South Korea had also proposed a framework for the APEC region to jointly cope with what he termed a demographic crisis.