Bank of Korea research found employment in occupations highly exposed to generative AI rose by 247,000 in the three years since 2023, with 199,000, or 80.8%, of the increase in the Seoul metropolitan area. Agentic-AI-related employment increased by 105,000 last year, including 93,000, or 88.3%, in the capital region, while employment among people in their 20s declined in highly exposed generative- and agentic-AI occupations across both capital and non-capital regions. Speaking at the 2026 BOK Regional Economic Symposium in Daejeon on the 15th, Governor Shin Hyun-song said AI would become a regional growth engine only if production systems, organizations and institutions were redesigned around it, supported by complementary innovation, training, infrastructure and industry links. The bank warned that AI could widen regional disparities because knowledge services and semiconductor manufacturing are concentrated around Seoul, while physical-AI exposure is higher outside the capital. It proposed regional AI training, stronger links between manufacturing, knowledge services and startups, and investment in regional universities as AI hubs.