Google Korea CEO Confirmed as Hearing Witness... Nekao Executive Also Summoned to National Assembly

Sky Daily Reporter Also Listed as Witness
AI Policy and Urgent Inquiries on the Late Oh Yoanna to Be Addressed

Executives from Google Korea, Naver, and Kakao, including the CEO of Google Korea, have been selected as witnesses for a hearing. This hearing is scheduled for the 5th of next month with the purpose of responding to the spread of false information online related to the December 3 emergency martial law incident.

According to industry and political sources on the 25th, the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee (STIBC) has approved 24 people as witnesses for the hearing, including Kim Kyung-hoon, CEO of Google Korea; Lee Jung-gyu, Executive Vice President of Naver's Service Operations Integration Support; and Lim Kwang-wook, Vice President and Media Performance Leader of Kakao's Content CIC. Initially, Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon was mentioned as a reference witness but was excluded from the final list. Key figures from broadcasting-related organizations, such as Kim Tae-gyu, Vice Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, and Ryu Hee-rim, Chairman of the Korea Communications Standards Commission, will also appear as witnesses to address false information related to martial law.

The hearing next month will also discuss conspiracy theories about election fraud. Kim Yong-bin, Secretary General of the Central Election Commission, and Lee Sang-jung, Director of the Korea Internet & Security Agency, along with Choi Kwang-hee, former head of the Cyber Incident Response Center, will appear before the National Assembly. A reporter from Sky Daily, who was reported by the Central Election Commission for articles such as "99 Chinese Spies Arrested at the Election Training Institute," is also on the witness list.

Policy support for AI industry development will be considered following the China-originated 'DeepSeek Shock.' The STIBC has decided to call Baek Jun-ho, CEO of FuriosaAI and former engineer at Samsung Electronics and US semiconductor company AMD, as a reference witness. FuriosaAI is reportedly in merger and acquisition (M&A) negotiations with Meta Platforms, the US parent company of Facebook. Kim Myung-joo, Director of the AI Safety Research Institute at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute of Korea, will appear as a witness to answer questions regarding AI policy.

Additionally, urgent inquiries related to the death of MBC weathercaster the late Oh Yo-anna are expected to continue. Park Geon-sik, Planning Director at MBC; Oh Jung-hwan, former Head of News; and Kang Myung-il, Chairman of the third labor union, were initially mentioned as reference witnesses but were decided to be called as witnesses in the plenary session on the same day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.