South Korea's prime minister said the government will expand AI-based medical services, including telemedicine for people in remote areas, and set a target of reducing traffic deaths by 30 percent by 2030. Prime Minister Han Seong-sook announced both plans Thursday at a policy coordination meeting in Seoul, saying AI should close gaps in a country where 2,549 people died in traffic accidents last year.
Han said access to care should not depend on where a person lives. "It is a fundamental right of the people to receive necessary medical services at the right time regardless of where we live," she said. AI will be used to fill gaps in regional, core, and public medical services, she added.
AI in Medical Services
AI will support telemedicine for patients who struggle to reach face-to-face care, Han said, and help emergency teams secure the "golden time" - the short window that determines a patient's chances of survival and risk of permanent harm. She also said the government will let people monitor their own health and will create a health and medical data hub that integrates scattered data, described as the foundation for a "Korean-style sovereign medical AI."
Han said the technology itself is not the goal. "However, introducing cutting-edge technologies itself should not be the objective. What's important is how we can protect the people's lives and health through this," she said, adding that extra care should be taken to protect personal information.
Traffic Death Target
The meeting also covered road safety. Han said 2,549 people died in traffic accidents last year and the government wants to reduce that number by 30 percent by 2030. The initial focus will be pedestrian safety, including longer walk signals controlled by AI and traffic lights for right-turning vehicles at crosswalks.
Why this matters for Government
For people who work in government, the plan means concrete operational changes: AI systems will start managing walk signals, supporting telemedicine, and aggregating health data across agencies. Public servants in health, data, and IT roles may be the ones evaluating these tools for data privacy, reliability, and fairness. Government employees who expect to work with these systems can start with AI for Healthcare and AI for Government courses.
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