[Press Release] “Korean AI Framework Act must be improved to reflect human rights-based approach to AI” CSOs submit opinion to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on official visit to Korea

1. On 12 May 2026, Korean Transnational Corporations Watch (KTNC Watch), Digital Justice Network, and the Institute for Digital Rights submitted the “Civil Society Opinion on a Human Rights-Based Approach to AI and the Korean AI Framework Act” to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on his visit to the Republic of Korea.
2. Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made an official visit to Korea from May 12 to 14, during which he met with Korean human rights groups and government officials. This marks the first official visit by a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to Korea in eleven years, after former High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s visit in 2015.
3. The Office of the High Commissioner and other UN human rights bodies have called on governments and AI companies to adopt a “human rights-based approach to AI.” From this perspective, the Framework Act on the Development on AI and the Creation of a Foundation for Trust (hereinafter the “AI Framework Act”) has significant shortcomings and requires improvement.
4. In the Opinion submitted to the High Commissioner, the CSOs stress that the AI Framework Act should be revised to (1) stipulate AI operators’ obligations to protect affected persons, (2) guarantee the participation of affected persons in AI governance and decision-making, (3) prohibit the development and use of AI systems that pose unmitigable risks to human rights, (4) mandate fundamental rights impact assessments for high-impact private-sector AI operators and require consultation with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, and (5) establish effective national complaint and remedy mechanisms for AI-related human rights violations.
5. The Korean government, including the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the National Assembly, which are currently reviewing amendments to the AI Framework Act, must work to improve the law by incorporating the human rights-based approach to AI that the United Nations has long advocated.

▣ Attachment: Civil Society Opinion on a Human Rights-Based Approach to AI and the Korean AI Framework Act