Acting President Lee: Education Must Shape Humanity In The AI Era
In discussions throughout the day, ministers explore how digital transformation, particularly the rise of generative AI, is forcing a fundamental rethink of how education systems function and what they aim to achieve.
7th APEC Education Ministerial Meeting
Jeju, Republic of Korea, 14 May 2025
Education ministers from 21 APEC economies are gathering in Jeju, Republic of Korea, today for the 7th APEC Education Ministerial Meeting, and reaffirming their shared commitment to bridging educational divides and fostering growth that benefits all people in the region through innovation and global cooperation.
Held under the theme 'Bridging Educational Gaps and Promoting Sustainable Growth in the Era of Digital Transformation: Innovate, Connect, Prosper,' the meeting comes at a moment of profound global change, as member economies confront the challenges of digital disruption, demographic shifts, climate change and widening inequalities.
'We are not simply witnessing ordinary changes—we are living through a monumental transformation in human civilization,' said Ju-Ho Lee, Acting President, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education of the Republic of Korea, who chairs the meeting. 'Education is emerging not merely as a tool of economic competitiveness, but as a pillar of sustainable prosperity for the global community.'
In discussions throughout the day, ministers explore how digital transformation, particularly the rise of generative AI, is forcing a fundamental rethink of how education systems function and what they aim to achieve.
'What kind of human being are we truly seeking to nurture through education?' Acting President Lee posed. 'Today's students must cultivate the ability to think critically, define problems independently and seek creative solutions. Equally important is the nurturing of human values and a sense of responsibility as members of a global community.'
Korea introduces the AI Digital Textbook (AIDT), which supports learners in studying at their own pace and level, and empowers teachers to take on the role of learning designers and facilitators.
'This is more than the adoption of new tools,' said Acting President Lee. 'It is a bold and inclusive approach to unlock the potential of every learner and to transform classrooms into dynamic learning environments.'
Ministers emphasize that developing AI-powered content, modernizing assessment systems and enhancing digital skills among teachers are key areas for collaboration to ensure inclusive, high-quality education across the region.
The meeting also highlights the need for stronger cross-border partnerships to accelerate innovation and reduce educational inequality.
'Global cooperation in education is more critical than ever,' said Acting President Lee. 'We must share best practices, collaborate on policies and technologies, and work hand in hand to close persistent educational gaps.'
Ministers also underscores the importance of sharing AI-driven innovations, promoting teacher exchanges, strengthening regional learning networks and advancing digital inclusion initiatives as effective ways to reach underserved learners.
As APEC economies strive to build inclusive, future-ready societies, ministers reaffirm education's role as the foundation for economic resilience, social cohesion and long-term prosperity.
Korea shares its efforts to advance regional innovation ecosystems and digital lifelong learning systems in partnership with universities and local communities, helping all citizens adapt proactively to change.
'Education is not merely the transfer of knowledge. It is the most powerful instrument we have to design our shared future,' said Acting President Lee. 'As AI and digital technologies evolve at an unprecedented pace, we must ensure that the benefits of these advancements are distributed fairly and equitably across societies.'
Throughout the meeting, ministers are aligned on the need to adapt domestic education strategies to APEC-wide priorities and committed to strengthening collaboration through the Human Resources Development Working Group and other multilateral platforms.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsroom
9 hours ago
- Newsroom
Last ditch bid to ban new helicopter pads in Auckland
Former All Black Ali Williams' success in winning planning permission for a helicopter pad at his Westmere home is provoking another political showdown on a planning change to ban more of the facilities in residential areas. Planning commissioners controversially okayed Williams' and his wife Anna Mowbray's application in the face of community opposition. And in doing so they could have made it easier citywide to have helicopter use approved. One community group, Quiet Skies Waitematā, is appealing the commissioners' ruling. In parallel, Auckland councillor Mike Lee and a councillor challenging Wayne Brown for the mayoralty in October, Kerrin Leoni, will ask colleagues on Thursday to vote for a specific planning change to not only stop any new leniency but to prohibit more landing pads. If the move succeeds, it would apparently be against the advice of council officers who believe the rules that applied for years before the Williams-Mowbray decision – where pads could be applied for but had to face hearings – remain the best answer. Should the councillors opt for a ban, Auckland Council would then need to seek an exemption from the resource management minister Chris Bishop to pursue the plan change after he directed councils not to make further changes ahead of new RMA reforms. The debate at the council's policy and planning committee on Thursday will be heavy with politics given the mayoral and council election is just under three months away. Lee represents the Waitematā ward of inner-city suburbs and Hauraki Gulf Islands and says the three local boards in his patch back a ban. Leoni is councillor for the Whau ward around the harbour from Westmere and is Brown's highest profile challenger. A similar move by Lee and Leoni in March 2024 failed by two votes. Mike Lee, centre, and councillor colleagues at Lee's campaign launch in 2022. Photo: Matthew Scott Lee told Newsroom he expected the vote 'to be a close-run thing. 'I'm hoping that the proximity of the election might mean councillors who normally vote the way staff advise them to, may be more sensitive, more aware of the depth of feeling out there in the community.' In his view the planning commissioners' decision to approve the Williams/Mowbray helipad and flights at their Rawene Ave property turns the Auckland Unitary Plan, which since 2016 has been the city's planning bible, into 'a circus'. In his notice of motion for the meeting, Lee says it 'redefines the activity class for helipads in the Auckland Unitary Plan from non-complying to a permitted activity or at most restricted discretionary – asserting that helicopters, just like automobiles, are a normal means of transport for residents. 'This extraordinary ruling effectively deregulates helipads to exactly the same status as garages or even bike sheds. Consequently, the disappointment and anger of the 1302 residents who submitted against the application [of 1396] will only add to the widespread negative view towards helipads in residential areas and towards the council on whose behalf the decision was made.' Lee's letter to council chief executive Phil Wilson explaining the notice of motion says residents and campaigners fear the existing 'permissive' approach will be made much worse, with rumoured further helipads being mooted. 'All three local boards concerned, Aotea Great Barrier, Waiheke and Waitematā, represent communities which have been grossly impacted by helicopter landing in built up areas. 'The specific activity class for helipads in the Gulf – 'restricted discretionary' – is as you know very permissive. In this case council has no choice but to process these applications on a non-notified basis,' he writes. 'Not surprisingly as a result there is now an extraordinary number of helipads in the Gulf – 11 on Great Barrier, 64 on Waiheke, with another application in process, and 4 in Waitematā – with rumours of a number of others in the pipeline. 'The effects have not been helped by what has been perceived by neighbours as lax enforcement, with council until recently ignoring the latest national noise standards for at least 5 years before the committee decision of March 2023 to enforce this 2019 national standard.' 'Despite the advice from officers that the matter of helipads was best left to the consenting process to manage, we now find ourselves in a position where an independent commission has effectively ruled that it's 'helipads for all'. 'They are now to be considered analogous to cars and bikes under the Auckland Unitary Plan. This is clearly a damaging, socially destabilising outcome for the community and the Council, coming just as residents receive their new rates invoices. Even the 'independent commission' is calling for clarity. Clarity is what myself and Councillor Leoni hope to achieve.' Williams and Mowbray have been approved for up to 10 flights a month, with a maximum of two a day and before 10 pm.
Scoop
13-07-2025
- Scoop
K-Defense Day: Pimping For The Arms Dealers
Militarism is catching on across the countries of advanced economies and beyond. The sly, disingenuous term of 'defence' is used in this context, encouraging arms manufacturers, contractors and the entire apparatus of the military-industrial complex to fatten for the cause. The European Union huffs and struts towards higher targets of expenditure that will cull projects for peaceful development in favour of a fatuous rearmament agenda. Member countries of the NATO alliance, lent on by the administration of President Donald Trump, are doing the same. The countries of the Middle East continue to add to the numbers, with warring Israel seeing a 65% increase in 2024 to US$46.5 billion, the sharpest annual increase since the Six-Day War in 1967. In East Asia, military contractors are also preening themselves in Tokyo and Seoul, pressing the flesh and pursuing contracts. Japan's military spending rose by a gulping 21% in 2024. The amount of US$55.3 billion is the largest since 1952. In Seoul, on the occasion of K-Defense Day on June 8, President Lee Jae-myung made it clear that he did not want South Korea's own defence industry to miss out on all the fun. In a closed-door discussion held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul hotel organised by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), Lee solemnly promised to 'do my best to push ahead, as long as we don't end up being labelled arms dealers'. This somewhat idiosyncratic caveat is bound to make little difference, given Lee's ambitions to promote the value of South Korea's killing inventory. DAPA, wanting to make the most of its first Defense Industry Day themed 'Remembering the dedication and passion of Korea's Defense Industry', was in a bullish mood to promote Korean military prowess. Some well minted propaganda did the rounds, drawing inspiration on the exploits of Admiral Yi Sun-sin on July 8, 1592, when the turtle ship was committed to the Battle of Sacheon against the Japanese fleet. The turtle ship, in its 'historical significance', symbolised 'Korea's will to protect its territory and its independent technological prowess.' Those in the defence industry had been worried that the new President might give them the cold shoulder on this grand occasion. He had previously attacked the installation of the US Terminal High Altitude Defense system on Korean soil, ostensibly to protect South Korea from North Korean missiles, as needlessly provocative. The militarists need not have worried. All the relevant mandarins were in attendance, including the Minister of National Defense nominee Ahn Gyu-baek and Chairperson of the National Defense Committee, Seong Il-jong. The industry titans were also represented. Numerous awards of merit were also presented. Lee had purportedly told his aides that K-Defense Day, put on the calendar of commemorations by his impeached predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol in 2023, would be a good opportunity to 'highlight our support for defence.' According to Korea JoongAng Daily, Lee outlined his various achievements of late to the closed gathering, including attending the G7 summit held last month in Canada. 'A big reason I went was to showcase the strength of our defence industry and to ask them to buy our submarines.' In May, it was revealed that a trio of South Korean firms – Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean and Hanwha Aerospace – had made a combined offer to the Canadian armed forces valued between US$14 to 17 billion in submarines, with US$720 million worth of armoured vehicles and artillery systems. It was a good time for the Koreans to strike, given the stated view by newly-elected Canadian Prime Minister Mike Carney that 'the old relationship with the United States based on… tight security and military cooperation is over'. Lee also explained his purpose for seeking an invitation to the latest NATO summit held in The Hague. Despite wanting to avoid accusations of being a grubby arms dealer, the ROK President was clearly placing the ambitions and wallets of arms dealers ahead of the common citizenry. He had become a pimp for arms: 'The biggest reason I wanted to go was to advertise our defence industry and weapons.' Participants at the forum pressed Lee to depart from the view that defence was a matter of procurement and competition between parties rather than a total industry beneficial to the state. The response was suitably patriotic – at least if you are a merchant of death: 'Defence and arms exports are not just a competition between companies; they're a competition between nations. We have to win as 'One Team Korea.'' In public remarks made at the start of the forum, Lee offered the sort of reasoning that launders the military-industrial complex of its stains, concealing its insatiable appetite to stimulate the cause for war. 'I hope the defence industry not only strengthens our security but also becomes one of Korea's future growth engines. The government will continue investing and providing strong support.' In response to 'the rapidly changing security environment', the government would also 'develop state-of-the-art weapon systems using artificial intelligence (AI) and unmanned robots and build a healthy business ecosystem that goes beyond the industrial structure centred on big corporations to allow small and medium enterprises and diverse talent to participate.' Militarism, following this seedy rationale, should not just be for the big corporations and arms manufacturers. In the business of killing, the little guys should also be given a chance.
Scoop
12-07-2025
- Scoop
How Air Freight Is Adapting To Global Supply Chain Challenges
Air freight, like many other shipping methods, has faced new challenges with an evolving global supply chain. Growing geopolitical and environmental events are prompting leaders to reassess their approach to adapting to the evolving trade landscape. The past couple of years have been a change in priorities as businesses look towards the future. Organisations have shifted their strategies from short-term solutions to address pandemic supply chain challenges to long-term security. Uncertainties in both the economic and environmental spheres persist post-pandemic and continue to put significant strain on the supply chain. While shippers and logistics firms have been remarkably adaptable in response to these shifting dynamics, the lack of global stability presents more immediate challenges. Issues caused by the pandemic and new obstacles from the global political climate are at the forefront of the supply chain. Businesses face many production and shipping delays, as well as unprecedented cost increases. Poor visibility has also become a concern as businesses rapidly expand their operations to cover pandemic losses or compete in a crowded marketplace. There can be missed opportunities, damaged partnerships and lost customers if complete oversight of the supply chain is not maintained. The compiling hurdles mean that industry leaders are investing more in solutions for the future of logistics and shipping. They identify the current challenges and outline prospective solutions for navigating the increasingly complex global trade labyrinth. A spokesperson from AGI Global Logistics shares the primary factor behind global supply chain challenges, where 'global economic instability has led to increased costs in traditional shipping routes.' Many other obstacles have emerged worldwide as a result of that uncertainty. Global supply chain challenges Global supply chain challenges persist as the logistics industry emerges from the pandemic. Adding to the recovery obstacles are widespread political unrest in key shipping regions, economic instability and extreme weather events. The rise of AI and emerging technologies, while benefitting, have also opened new avenues of risk to the global supply chain. Cyber attacks against critical supply chain infrastructure are increasing and industry-leading organisations continue to report disruptions as a result of these intrusions. Finally, talent gaps are also contributing to the issue due to skilled labour shortages. Many recruiters continue to struggle to source talent that adapts to the current expertise required in the global supply chain. Over three-quarters of major European shippers reported delays and disruptions to their supply chains due to the issues above. Even the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) acknowledges the immense pressure on the supply chain due to current geopolitical, technological and environmental volatility. Supply chains seek faster decision-making and quick adaptation to stay resilient against rising tides. Today's businesses aren't only competing for products and services but also delivery times. Air freight solutions Air freight is a shipping method growing in popularity due to the shifting priorities of global business. In 2024, the industry experienced an unprecedented year of growth, driven by increasing e-commerce demands and changing customer behaviours. The core pillars that have enabled air freight to adapt to global supply chains are speed, flexibility, cost and resilience. These advantages have helped the industry to remain agile in the face of change. The pandemic highlighted the importance of speed with ramped-up production and shipment of goods to meet global demand. Many businesses turned to air freight solutions to transport transcontinental cargo in a fraction of the time it would take for regular shipping, keeping the supply chain moving smoothly. Speeds also enable flexibility in air freight, allowing for quick decision-making and swift action should the supply chain climate change rapidly. The ability to reach more remote destinations faster and bypass many environmental barriers has helped many organisations overcome shipping challenges. Air freight's resilience and adaptability have come out as the leading shipping method in a changing world. The cargo can circumvent many geopolitical tensions and extreme weather events to meet demands for goods quickly, efficiently and at reduced costs. As global supply chains continue to face current and new challenges, air freight solutions are ready to adapt. They offer businesses an avenue to reduce costs by shipping goods based on weight rather than volume, with faster transit times and fewer expensive supply chain delays. Where business leaders have an obligation to minimise costs and drive more revenue, air freight is a supply chain solution adapting to the current status quo.
