Korea PIPC chair pledges punitive AI-era data-protection enforcement and agentic-AI privacy framework reform at National Assembly audit

On 13 October 2026, at a National Assembly (National Policy Committee) parliamentary audit, Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) Chairperson Song Kyoung-hee acknowledged Korea's data-security framework 'lags considerably,' committed to firm enforcement using the punitive fine system (in effect since September, up to 10% of revenue) and enforcement charges for non-cooperation, and said the PIPC will 'review and improve the current privacy framework so that it fits the AI era, including by addressing privacy issues raised by agentic AI.'

This signals Korea's data authority is moving toward binding, AI-era enforcement and rulemaking covering agentic AI — relevant to any company deploying autonomous/agentic AI processing personal data of Korean residents, alongside the existing AI Framework Act obligations.

Track PIPC's proposed AI-era privacy framework amendments and ensure agentic-AI data processing (agents with tool access) is subject to defensible lawful-basis, transparency and accountability controls ahead of expected enforcement tightening.