AI · SEMICONDUCTOR · FACT CHECK
SKD WIREMostly True
President Lee has invoked Google's AI chatbot Gemini while disputing controversy over whether the heads of the Public Prosecutors' Office (gongsucheong) and the High-ranking Officials Crime Investigation Office (jungsucheong) may attend State Council meetings, calling attempts to block their attendance "unconstitutional coercion."
The controversy centers on whether the heads of the two investigative bodies can be seated at State Council meetings alongside the President and Cabinet members. Critics have raised concerns that their attendance blurs institutional boundaries, while the President's office has defended the practice as legitimate.
In addressing the matter, President Lee referenced Gemini, citing the AI system as part of his argument. He characterized efforts to challenge the officials' attendance as an "unconstitutional" overreach ("억지," meaning coercion or forcing the issue).
The President's use of an AI chatbot in a politically sensitive dispute has drawn attention in itself, as official citations of generative AI tools in governance debates remain uncommon.
The legal standing of the two agency heads' attendance at the State Council has not been definitively settled, and it remains unclear what weight the AI citation carries in the underlying constitutional question. No ruling or formal determination on the matter is included in the available record.
Fact-checkers reviewed 12 primary sources related to the claim and found the core statements about the President's remarks and the controversy to be consistent with the record, though the underlying constitutional question remains contested. On balance, the claim about President Lee's AI reference and his characterization of the attendance dispute stands as Mostly True.