GOYANG — A citizen-led push to bring the UN Global AI Hub, a planned base for international cooperation on artificial intelligence, to Goyang in Gyeonggi Province is gathering pace.
Goyang City held a launch ceremony for the Goyang Citywide Citizens' Committee for Hosting the UN Global AI Hub at the Goyang Flower Exhibition Hall in Ilsan Lake Park on the 7th and began a drive to collect 100,000 signatures. Under the arrangement, a citizens' organization rather than the city administration is taking the lead on the bid to host an international body.
The committee was formed voluntarily by residents who agreed on the need to bring an international organization to the city. Residents also handled preparations and ran the ceremony. Roughly 300 citizens attended, along with Goyang Mayor Min Kyung-sun, Goyang City Council Chair Kim Mi-su, provincial and municipal council members, and heads of local institutions.
The event was divided into two parts. In the first, Ahn Ji-ho, a research fellow at the Goyang Research Institute, presented a case for hosting the UN Global AI Hub in Goyang, and guests including the mayor and the council chair signed a petition supporting the bid. The second part was a dialogue with citizens that discussed the direction of the campaign and ways for residents to take part.
Starting from that day, the committee will seek signatures from 100,000 residents. Signatures will be collected online as well as at community service centers in each neighborhood and at major public facilities. The goal is to reach 100,000 before the second half of the year, when the government is scheduled to open a public call for a site, and the committee plans to submit the signatures to the government and the National Assembly as evidence supporting the city's case.
"It was citizens who first proposed hosting an international organization, and it was citizens who created today's event," Min said. "The launch of the citywide committee shows that hosting the UN Global AI Hub is not an administrative goal but the will of all Goyang residents." He stressed that the National Assembly, the city and its residents would work as one team to secure the bid.
The UN Global AI Hub is an international cooperation platform designed to help countries use artificial intelligence safely and fairly. It would handle the drafting of international norms such as AI ethics and global standards, as well as AI education, training of specialists and joint research. Addressing shared global challenges including climate, health and disasters, and researching AI laws and institutions, also fall within its scope. The government plans to open a public call for a site to local governments nationwide in the second half of the year.
The city is leading with infrastructure. Its international conference facilities, centered on KINTEX, the country's largest exhibition and convention center, form the core of its pitch. The city also cites access to Incheon International Airport and Gimpo International Airport and a wider transport network linking the Great Train Express (GTX)-A line and KTX high-speed rail. It further points to an expanding AI and data center base centered on Ilsan Techno Valley, bio and medical infrastructure including seven general hospitals such as the National Cancer Center and Myongji Hospital, and educational resources including Korea Aerospace University and Joongbu University.
On the 25th of last month, the city already held a declaration ceremony for the bid at the National Assembly Members' Office Building, joined by local lawmakers, the city council and local institutions and organizations. Using the committee's launch as a springboard, the city plans to broaden the citizen-participation campaign and hold an expert forum on strategies for hosting an international organization at KINTEX in September. The forum is to bring together experts in international relations along with academics and researchers.
