Ha Jung-woo (center), senior presidential secretary for artificial intelligence policy and future planning, on Sept. 22 holds a news briefing at a hotel in New York on the meeting between President Lee Jae Myung and Larry Fink, CEO of the world's largest asset management company BlackRock. (Yonhap News)

By Yoon Sojung

President Lee Jae Myung, on a visit to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, on Sept. 22 started his itinerary with talks on cooperation in artificial intelligence and renewable energy with Larry Fink, CEO of the world's largest asset management company BlackRock, Yonhap News and other Korean news outlets said.

Ha Jung-woo, senior presidential secretary for artificial intelligence (AI) policy and future planning, said Fink, who is also interim co-chair of the World Economic Forum, pledged active cooperation in the meeting so that Korea emerges as the AI capital of the Asia-Pacific region.

Fink said the transformation in AI and decarbonization needs to be done together, calling it a task that the world must jointly tackle. He also pledged to actively cooperate with global capital so that Korea turns into the "AI capital in Asia."

Welcoming the offer, President Lee said he will work to achieve substantial results through close cooperation and invited Fink to Korea.

Both sides pledged to set up a large data center in Korea to make the country an Asia-Pacific AI hub and jointly prepare the massive investment required for renewable energy transition in the region over the next five years.

The Office of the President in Seoul said a joint task force with BlackRock will discuss details of cooperation such as investment methods and scale.

The meeting was attended by Adebayo Ogunlesi, chairman of Global Infrastructure Partners, former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and Rep. Cha Jiho of the Democratic Party of Korea.

arete@korea.kr