Health ministry inspects Naver data center in Sejong for medical AI push

The health ministry said Monday that Vice Minister Lee Hyung-hoon visited Naver's GAK Sejong data center in Sejong to inspect the computing infrastructure that the government's AI basic medical care strategy depends on.

The strategy covers medical AI and new drug research. Training and running AI models requires large-scale computing capacity alongside high-quality data, and graphics processing units that handle heavy calculations, together with the data centers that run them, are the base for developing and using AI in the medical and bio sectors.

Lee was briefed on how GAK Sejong operates and on its main activities, and toured the site's key facilities, including its security management system, which is meant to protect operations and data against the growing risk of attacks that use AI.

Heads of the ministry departments responsible for medical AI and drug development policy and for national university hospital policy traveled with him, and looked at the technical conditions needed to use AI in the medical and bio fields and at how those conditions could connect to related policies.

"To ensure AI protects people's health in medical settings and widens the possibilities of new drug research, infrastructure such as data centers that support it is important," Lee said. "We have confirmed the need for a government-level data center in preparation for growing demand for data in the health and medical sector, and we will safely put in place the foundations for using AI."

GAK Sejong is located in Jiphyeon-dong in Sejong and is operated by Naver.