▲ 'ASTEEDA Executive Salon 2026'
A blueprint has been presented for South Korea and Japan to cooperate through "co-evolution" rather than competition in the media and entertainment industries during the era of artificial intelligence (AI).
At the 'ASTEEDA Executive Salon 2026' held on June 12, panelists including Kenichi Tamatsuka, President and CEO of Lotte Holdings; Ko Sam-seok, a distinguished professor at Dongguk University who serves as a member of the Presidential Committee on the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Standing Chair of the K-Enter-Tech Forum; and Jung Sang-won, CEO of ESTsoft, discussed the "Changes in Media and Entertainment in the AI Era and Korea-Japan Co-evolution."
The session was moderated by Han Jung-hoon, CEO of K-Enter-Tech Hub.
The panelists noted that the competitive advantages of South Korea and Japan are distributed differently across the AI value chain.
They assessed that the industrial structures are differentiated, with South Korea securing leadership in hardware such as semiconductors and foundation models like Large Language Models (LLMs), while Japan shows strengths in the application and service stages.
Therefore, they concluded that this asymmetrical structure should be utilized as a point of cooperation.
Presenting the "co-evolution theory," Professor Ko Sam-seok emphasized, "We must shift from a zero-sum relationship to a plus-sum relationship and redesign our strategy toward altruistic co-evolution, where all stakeholders benefit together, rather than predatory co-evolution."
The potential for complementarity between the two countries was also raised regarding content competitiveness.
While South Korea holds strengths in K-pop, dramas, and games, and Japan excels in animation, characters, and games, it was pointed out that both countries share a common weakness in the competitiveness of global content distribution platforms.
"When cooperation occurs not only in areas of strength but also in areas of weakness, the content industries of both countries can grow together," Professor Ko said. "We need to establish a Korea-Japan Enter-Tech open innovation track where large corporations and startups can connect regularly with government support."
He added, "Private events like ASTEEDA should become regular channels for cooperation."
Corporate case studies were also shared.
CEO Jung Sang-won introduced 'Perso AI,' an AI human and AI dubbing platform with 460,000 subscribers, more than 90% of whom are overseas. President Tamatsuka presented Korea-Japan cooperative assets spanning IP, hotels, the metaverse, and sports, based on the 'One Lotte' strategy.
In addition to the sessions, seven South Korean AI and software companies set up booths at the event to conduct one-on-one consultations with Japanese corporate executives.
Ryukyu ASTEEDA, which hosted the event, is a professional table tennis team in the T.League and the first professional sports club in Japan to be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Pro Market in 2021.
K-Enter-Tech Hub provides in-depth analysis, industry reports, and insights for experts across the ecosystem, including Korean entertainment, technology, streaming, AI, and the metaverse.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.