South Korea\'s K-Moonshot project, aimed at applying AI to science and technology to solve national challenges, faces an early setback after a mission program director offered to resign. The science ministry said the resignation came for personal reasons and is expected to be accepted after the deputy prime minister returns from an overseas trip. The ministry plans to proceed without recruiting a successor and has outlined governance and conflict-of-interest controls for program directors.

South Korea and Italy will expand science and technology cooperation centred on three areas: artificial intelligence, climate change and bio, South Korea\'s Ministry of Science and ICT said. The two countries held the 13th Korea-Italy Joint Committee on Science and Technology in Rome with Italy\'s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. They reviewed outcomes from joint bio and chemistry research, discussed future agendas including physical AI semiconductors and climate-response crops, and explored broader cooperation on brain disease research. The next meeting will be held in Seoul.