The monthly rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council provides countries with the opportunity to spotlight issues most important to them. As South Korea assumes the role this September, it will convene a high-level debate on artificial intelligence.
The session, scheduled for Sept. 24-25, comes as the United States prepares to revoke waivers for South Korean chipmakers who have factories in China and as North Korea expands its use of AI for military and economic purposes.
As is customary with Security Council high-level sessions, South Korea’s chargé d’affaires ambassador to the UN, Sangjin Kim, said the debate will not center on any single country or particular issue. Instead, member states are expected to use the platform to highlight aspects of AI’s implications for international peace and security.
“Cybersecurity is a part of the AI implications on international peace and security,” Kim told PassBlue in an exclusive interview on Aug 29. “It is closely linked. We would like to expand on this serious issue to AI. This is sort of a continuity and also an expansion of our interest in this issue.”
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung will lead the Council debate, with Secretary-General António Guterres expected to participate. It will be the first time Lee chairs a UN Security Council debate. He was elected in June, after the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
On Aug. 29, just three days after Jae-myung met with Trump to advance trade talks, the US Commerce Department announced that it would revoke the waivers for South Korean chipmakers, first granted under President Biden. The waivers had allowed Korean chipmakers to purchase American equipment for their factories in China.
Samsung and SK Hynix will now be expected to seek a license from the US president before they can buy American equipment to use in their factories in China. The new policy, to begin in the coming months, casts a shadow over the perceived gains from the Aug. 26 summit between the two leaders.
South Korea’s tech giants lead global production of memory chips, which remain the foundation of AI. This dominance puts Seoul directly in the middle of the AI race between Washington and Beijing. In January, Trump called the sudden boom of a Chinese chatbot, DeepSeek, which wiped $1 trillion from the leading US tech index, a “wake-up call.”
DeepSeek’s breakthrough showed that advanced AI apps could be trained with fewer chips, compared with the American alternatives, like ChatGPT. This could be a noticeable undertone as South Korea focuses on AI in the Security Council debate, given that the US and China, two of Korea’s most powerful partners, sit as permanent members.
“I believe the United States understands the geographical proximity. . . . That means we have no alternatives, but we have to live and survive together with China,” Kim said, responding to a question from PassBlue on how Seoul walks the tightrope between the US and China.
He added: “So, I know the delicacy of these issues, but what I can tell you now is that the US understands that we do have some economic cooperation with China, but at the same time, we do understand the strategic goal that the US has in mind at this moment.”
Historically, Seoul has pursued economic partnership with China while relying on the US for security. Sydney Seiler, a former national intelligence officer for North Korea at the National Intelligence Council, said this formula is no longer sustainable as the US-China rivalry thickens. Seiler added that the Council presidency gives Seoul a forum to engage with other countries that, like South Korea, are navigating the complexities of their relationships with the US.
Korea’s closest neighbor and greatest threat, North Korea, continues to test new ground by using AI to expand its military might, as it explores unmanned drones and turns to unregulated technology to help sustain its regime as international sanctions cut off most legitimate sources of revenue.
In March, North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un had overseen tests of “various kinds of reconnaissance and suicide drones” developed by the country’s Unmanned Aerial Technology Complex.
There are also reports of North Koreans using AI to disguise their identity and take a job interview to land a lucrative job in US Fortune 500 firms. According to the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, South Korean public institutions faced an unprecedented wave of cyberattacks in 2023, with daily attempts averaging 1.62 million, roughly 80 percent of them attributed to North Korea.
Seiler said that focusing on AI was a tactical choice that veered the Security Council presidency of South Korea from more contentious issues in which bilateral disagreements often make it difficult for the 15 members to reach a consensus.
“Artificial intelligence is a global economic issue that isn’t focused on the current question of the United States, its trade deals, and its tariffs,” Seiler, the Korea chair at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said. “AI is a matter of great global interest and significant concern to South Korean national interests.”
He added: “North Korea remains a top priority for South Korea. There’d be a focus on working with other countries to try to incentivize North Korea towards better behavior, to encourage countries to engage Pyongyang.”
Each month, PassBlue profiles UN ambassadors as their countries assume the Council presidency. As South Korea takes its second rotating presidency in its two-year term, PassBlue spoke with its chargé d’affaires ambassador, Sangjin Kim, on how Seoul balances its relationship with the US and China, tariffs and why it wants to be the penholder on the Council’s file on Afghanistan, which focuses on the UN mission there, called UNAMA.
Kim, who has been the deputy permanent representative for South Korea since January 2023, has been leading the mission since Ambassador Joonkook Hwang, appointed by the former Korean president, was recalled in July. It is unclear when a new ambassador to the UN will be named.
Kim’s comments have been edited and condensed for clarity.
PassBlue: What’s your signature event for your rotating presidency in September?
Kim: Korea has been proactively participating in AI issues in various formats. For example, last year, Korea held a summit focusing on how AI might impact the military domain. We also co-tabled a UN General Assembly resolution. So, I think having this AI open debate continues our efforts to contribute to international peace and security in terms of AI.
PassBlue: Last year, your monthly rotating presidency looked at cybersecurity. How does concentrating on AI expand on last year’s event?
Kim: Cybersecurity is part of the AI implications on international peace and security. It is closely linked. So, this is a continuation and also an expansion of our interest in this issue.
PassBlue: South Korea is interested in becoming the penholder for Afghanistan in the Council, competing with Pakistan and China on the Afghan file. Why is this important now?
Kim: Since becoming a Security Council member [in 2024], we want to identify ourselves. Coming from the Asian region, it is natural that we focus on issues like Myanmar and Afghanistan. Many countries have also reached out, requesting that Korea assume the penholdership. Penholdership is informal and not clearly defined, but we have been actively participating. We’ve held informal expert-group meetings on how climate change impacts Afghanistan and how women could be incorporated into Afghan society. We are well qualified to pursue these issues both as penholder and as a Council member.
PassBlue: What is your opinion on the penholdership, given that it involves one country acting on behalf of another sovereign country?
Kim: Penholdership carries authority to influence resolutions, press statements and related documents. Holding penholdership in Afghanistan helps protect Afghan girls’ and women’s rights. We believe we have no hidden agenda, have contributed as donors and have historically deployed troops there.
PassBlue: Some say the penholdership reflects the Security Council’s power imbalance. Why does one country need to speak for another?
Kim: I think you have to understand the dynamism of how the Security Council operates. The Council is composed of 15 members, but it addresses and tackles many global issues. The Afghanistan file is one of those. Afghanistan is not a member of the Council, so some countries need to take responsibility to ensure the issue is handled properly. It is unavoidable that those countries that don’t necessarily have direct sovereignty over Afghanistan need to show responsibility.
PassBlue: On Palestine, South Korea hasn’t recognized the state of Palestine. What is your position?
Kim: As you said, we are well aware of the move that more countries are leaning toward recognizing Palestine as a state, including France, which declared that the time has come for recognition of Palestine as a state.
PassBlue: Given the dire situation in Gaza, isn’t recognition urgent?
Kim: Our position is that the decision will be made when the time is right, when we believe recognition of Palestine as a state is conducive to stability in the Middle East. Seoul is reviewing this thoroughly because an increasing number of countries are beginning to recognize Palestine as a state. So, I don’t want to prejudge where it may go, but what I can tell you is that the government of Korea is aware of this trend.
PassBlue: Ambassador, there are those who would say that one reason South Korea is holding back on recognizing Palestine as a state is because it does not want to anger the US.
Kim: Very tricky question, but I would just say I don’t agree with that. Whether we hold back our positions due to our relations with the United States, I said no. The reason is that this is a global issue, and we watch and see what is happening on the ground.
PassBlue: Let’s move away from Palestine. Another issue that’s very dear to South Korea is North Korea. Has anything changed since the mandate for the Security Council expert panel on North Korea was not renewed?
Kim: Russia vetoed renewing the panel’s mandate due to the Ukraine war, which deepened military cooperation with North Korea. The panel provided valuable monitoring, and its absence affects enforcement. Eleven like-minded countries, including Korea, formed a coalition to issue reports similar to the panel’s mandate. The first report covered illicit military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, and a follow-up report will come soon.
PassBlue: I want to circle back to my question and just ask: has there been any measurable impact of this suspension in the region?
Kim: Member countries are not assisted with credible information, and some small countries that are not capable of paying due attention to these issues don’t know whether they are violating or being forced to violate. The absence of the panel creates risks.
PassBlue: Let’s talk about South Korea’s relationship with the US. Recently, there was a summit between South Korea and the US. People have said the greatest achievement of that meeting, on Aug. 26, was just photo ops. Do you agree with that?
Kim: Frankly, we have reasonable worries, but it went so excellently. He was very warmly received by President Trump. They not only forged some personal relations, a lot of issues were also discussed. For example, Koreans are very keen to know whether the US president would recommit their unwavering security commitment to South Korea — and he did. Secondly, shipbuilding, aerospace, semiconductors, the use of nuclear energy and very cutting-edge advanced technology-related industries were discussed between the two leaders.
Our new government is working very hard on how we reconnect our relations with North Korea, and how we engage the North Korean leader and then bring him back to the negotiating table. This is one of the core issues that the two leaders [Lee and Trump] discussed, and I believe the two agreed on how to engage North Korea, including resuming talks between North Korea and the United States.
PassBlue: Still on the South Korea-US relationship. How does South Korea balance trade with China while maintaining the US alliance?
Kim: I believe our ally, the United States, understands the geographical proximity Korea is located in. That means we have no alternatives but to live and survive together with China. So, I know the delicacy of these issues, but what I can tell you is that the US understands that we do have some economic cooperation with China. But at the same time, we do understand what strategic goals [the US] has in mind at this moment. So, we will consider very cautiously and strategically.
I characterize our relations with the United States as a staunch alliance. So, our fundamental foreign policy is anchored on these foundations: militarily, economically and politically. And built on which we do diversify and we do expand our good relations with neighboring countries and some countries beyond our region.
Ambassador’s Profile
South Korea’s chargé d’affaires ambassador to the UN: Sangjin Kim
Languages: Korean and English
Education: B.A. in public administration, Yonsei University (Seoul), 1992; master’s in international relations, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, 2000.
His story, briefly: Sangjin Kim has served as the deputy permanent representative of South Korea to the UN since January 2023. He has worked with the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1994. Within the ministry, he has served as director of the North Korean Nuclear Policy Division and director of the Human Resources Management Division. He was director-general for international policy at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul from 2020 to 2022. He is married and has a son.
Country Profile
Head of State: President Lee Jae-myung
Foreign Affairs Minister: Cho Hyun
Type of Government: Presidential
Year South Korea Joined the UN: 1991
Years in the Security Council: 2024-2025; 2013-2014; 1996-1997
Population: 51.63 million
Carbon emissions per person: 11 metric tons; world average: 4.7 tons
Damilola Banjo is an award-winning staff reporter for PassBlue who has covered a wide range of topics, from Africa-centered stories to gender equality to UN peacekeeping and US-UN relations. She also oversees all video production for PassBlue. She was a Dag Hammarskjold fellow in 2023 and a Pulitzer Center postgraduate fellow in 2021. She was part of the BBC Africa team that produced the Emmy-nominated documentary, “Sex for Grades.” In addition, she worked for WFAE, an NPR affiliate in Charlotte, N.C. Banjo has a master’s of science degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an undergraduate degree from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.
