South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission on March 19 held a launch ceremony and the first plenary meeting of the 2026 Personal Information Future Forum, its policy advisory body, at Yangjae L Tower in Seoul.

The 2026 forum is co-chaired by PIPC Chairperson Song Kyung-hee (송경희) and Seoul National University professor Lee Won-woo (이원우). It has 40 members, including experts by field from academia, industry and civic groups, as well as special members. The 2026 forum diversified its membership and increased the number of new members compared with before. As the scope of personal information expands, it plans to broaden discussion topics to the humanities, society and economics and change how it operates, including having participants present directly, to strengthen its influence as a key policy advisory body.

The first plenary meeting discussed a shift to a preventive personal information management system. J&Security CEO Kim Kyung-ha (김경하), a specialist consulting firm in information security and personal information protection, stressed the need for a practical preventive management system based on voices from industrial sites. Next, Gachon University College of Law professor Choi Kyung-jin (최경진) presented policy recommendations on the future of personal information and a life-cycle personal information protection system.

Song said that in an era of increasingly advanced artificial intelligence, existing policy tools alone have limits in safely protecting and using people's personal information. She said she would identify mid- to long-term agendas around the forum, discuss risk factors a step ahead and respond pre-emptively to the rapidly changing policy environment.