▲ AI PRISM* Personalized Economic Briefing
* Editor's note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an artificial intelligence-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six news items tailored to each reader type.
[Key Issue Briefing]
■ Security developers grow scarce: As AI-driven hacking threats intensify, the median annual salary for security developers in South Korea has climbed to 146.55 million won, 51% higher than the 97.1 million won earned by general developers. Experts warn that an accelerating talent drain from specialized security firms to large conglomerates is weakening the competitiveness of the country's information security ecosystem.
■ KAIST pledges to cultivate thinkers for the AI era: KAIST is strengthening foundational humanities education in literature, history and philosophy and introducing an "AI-free" teaching approach in which students think for themselves without AI, charting a new direction for training engineers in the AI era. President Bae Choong-sik said that "without philosophy, you can end up chasing nothing but efficiency," adding that the school will also recruit professors in the humanities and social sciences and establish a startup education track.
■ Working-hour exemption legislation gains pace: The Democratic Party of Korea filed a bill on the 20th to create mega-regional special zones, including exemptions from the 52-hour weekly cap for highly paid professionals and research and development staff, fueling debate over changes to the working environment. Talks are under way in a labor-management-government working group, but differences remain on core issues, and pushback from labor is expected following the filing.
[News of Interest to Entry-Level Professionals]
1. Demand Surges Amid Hacking Threats, Driving Up Pay for Security Developers
Key points: The median annual salary for security developers in South Korea stands at 146.55 million won, about 51%, or 49.45 million won, more than the 97.1 million won for general developers. While the spread of AI agents is reducing hiring demand for general developers, demand for security developers is surging as AI-driven hacking threats intensify. High-paying sectors such as telecommunications, platforms and finance are expanding experienced hires in cybersecurity, and demand for advanced talent such as penetration testing specialists, whom companies previously did not hire, has grown explosively, suggesting the upward trend in pay will continue for some time. Experts also warn repeatedly that the information security ecosystem is weakening as talent flows out of cash-strapped specialized security firms to large conglomerates.
Key points: KAIST is strengthening foundational humanities education in literature, history and philosophy to train science and technology talent capable of independent thought in the AI era. President Bae Choong-sik warned that students will not develop thinking skills if AI takes over the process of reading, thinking and writing, and outlined plans to pursue both "AI-free" education, in which students think without AI, and education that uses AI to solve problems. In research, the university will focus on physical AI built on South Korea's manufacturing base and pursue industry-academia projects with partners including Nvidia, while establishing a startup education track from admission through graduate school to build a system in which research results lead to commercialization. Bae stressed that "because startups are a challenge with no guarantee of success, we need institutions and a culture that let young people get back up after failing several times."
Key points: The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has selected 48 projects for its program to rapidly commercialize AI application products in manufacturing, known as AX Sprint, and will provide a combined 124.2 billion won, accelerating the commercial use of AI on factory floors. Mid-sized and smaller companies across industries including forging, food and publishing are developing AI solutions such as early fire detection, process optimization and the adoption of autonomous mobile robots. Rather than having AI suppliers push solutions unilaterally, the government adopted an approach that selects suitable technologies based on manufacturers' process data and operating experience and verifies their effectiveness on site, improving practicality. The structure spans four areas — manufacturing safety, processes and production, management and operations, and consumer-tailored services — pursuing both the prevention of industrial accidents and gains in production efficiency.
[Reference News for Entry-Level Professionals]
Key points: The Democratic Party of Korea filed a mega-regional special zone bill on the 20th to attract investment in advanced regional industries, settling on a direction that includes a "white-collar exemption" clause exempting highly paid professionals and research and development staff from the 52-hour weekly cap and from overtime premium pay. The bill centers on grouping multiple local governments into a single wide-area economic bloc and concentrating support there, including faster permits, power and water supply, expanded transport networks, and fiscal and tax assistance. An expansion of flexible working-hour schemes for research and development staff and a longer permitted period for fixed-term workers are also under discussion, so pushback from labor is expected after the filing. With internal party differences still unresolved, the final form of the filing will be confirmed through a party-level announcement on the 20th.
5. Fathers Add an Hour of Housework and Care, but Still Half of Mothers'
Key points: Men aged 25 to 39 with children in dual-income households spent an average of two hours and 17 minutes a day on housework and care in 2024, up one hour and three minutes over a decade from one hour and 14 minutes in 2014. As men's participation expanded, the gap between dual-income spouses narrowed by nearly half, from three hours and 16 minutes to one hour and 43 minutes. Still, dual-income women spend four hours on housework and care, about 1.8 times the two hours and 17 minutes men spend, leaving the burden unevenly distributed. The gender gap also differs sharply depending on whether a couple has children: among dual-income couples without minor children, the gap was just 34 minutes, but it widened nearly threefold once children arrived. Married young adults with children had three hours and 13 minutes of leisure a day, one hour and 29 minutes less than their single peers, underscoring the gap in quality of life tied to having children.
6. BYD Outsells Korea's Three Mid-Tier Automakers; Industry Says It "Feels Despair"
Key points: BYD sold 20,137 vehicles in South Korea from January through September this year, 3.3 times its full-year total of 6,107 last year, lifting its share of the imported car market to 7.2% from 2.0%. For three straight months from July, it outsold the combined monthly domestic sales of Korea's three mid-tier automakers — KG Mobility, Renault Korea and GM Korea — and it has sustained volumes through aggressive marketing, covering the gap with its own incentives even after being excluded from the government's electric vehicle purchase subsidies. The executive in charge of vehicle development at Hyundai Motor and Kia said at the Paris Motor Show, after seeing Chinese cars, that "I felt despair," revealing a sense of crisis. Experts criticized South Korea's 8% tariff on Chinese passenger cars and the exclusion of electric vehicles from domestic production tax credits as leaving the country effectively short of defenses. With additional Chinese brands such as Xpeng and Chery close to entering the market, Chinese EVs are expected to penetrate South Korea's market even more aggressively.
