An amendment to the AI Framework Act (인공지능 발전과 신뢰 기반 조성 등에 관한 기본법) was referred to committee and entered committee review (소관위 심사) on 8 September 2026. As introduced, it would tighten the existing domestic-agent regime for foreign AI-service providers who have no address or place of business in Korea, adding a change-notification duty, a standing-reachability requirement, and — echoing a similar proposal in the game sector — a rule requiring providers with a Korean subsidiary to designate that subsidiary as their agent. No effective date or penalty amount has been set; the bill is pending, not in force.

What changed

  • Change-of-agent notification. A foreign AI-service provider with no address or place of business in Korea would have to report to the Minister of Science and ICT whenever its designated domestic agent changes. No such notification duty exists in the current text.
  • Standing reachability. The bill would require the provider to take the necessary measures so that its domestic agent remains in constant contact with the Ministry of Science and ICT — a response to concerns that, without a reachability standard, incident response has been slow.
  • Own-subsidiary-first designation. Where an AI-service provider has established a Korean corporation, the amendment would require that corporation — not an unrelated third party — to be designated as the domestic agent.
  • Provisions affected: Articles 36 and 43 of the AI Framework Act.
  • Status: Referred to committee, now under committee review as of 8 September 2026. This is a pending bill. The existing domestic-agent threshold and penalty structure under Article 36 are unchanged for now.

What this means for you

  • If you already meet the domestic-agent trigger under Article 36 (the KRW 10 billion AI-service-revenue test or the domestic-user measure), treat this bill as a signal that your reporting burden around agent changes is likely to increase — not as a current obligation.
  • If you have established, or are considering establishing, a Korean subsidiary, note that the bill would remove the option of designating an unrelated third-party agent once that subsidiary exists. Factor this into any subsidiary or agent-appointment planning now.
  • No effective date or penalty figure is set. Track committee movement before altering your current designation, since the bill can still be amended, stall, or pass as introduced.
  • Confirm that your current domestic agent's contact arrangements with MSIT would already satisfy a standing-reachability standard, since this is the direction the amendment points even before it is binding.

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