Education minister casts classrooms as answer to AI upheaval, balanced national development

With classrooms emptying in provincial towns and employers warning of widening skills shortages, Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin said at a briefing Monday that Korea’s education system had become a frontline response to the country’s deeper national and regional structural problems. These include demographic decline and the hollowing out of areas beyond the capital. While the ministry identified priorities like fostering democratic citizenship and bolstering regional universities, it made no reference to policies concerning international students. At a briefing marking his first 100 days in office, Choi said Korea as a whole — and its regions in particular — was entering a period of profound change and crisis. “The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the type of talent society demands, while the crisis of regional depopulation is calling for a fundamentally new role for education policy,” he said. “Even amid these changes, what must not be forgotten is the core of education. Above all, it is essential to provide education that enables students to