Province kicks off AI-integrated public property management project to advance its vision as South Korea's AI capital
South Chungcheong Province is set to become the first local government in South Korea to overhaul its public property investigation and management practices using AI technology.
The province held a project launch briefing Tuesday at the provincial government building, attended by provincial and municipal civil servants and outside experts, to kick off the "AI-based public property integrated management system intelligence project."
The project aims to reduce the administrative burden of public property investigations and raise the professional competency of staff handling the work.
The province currently manages roughly 95,000 parcels of public property but has struggled to maintain systematic oversight due to staff shortages and frequent personnel rotations relative to the sheer scale of the holdings.
In response, the province plans to invest a total of 472 million won ($329,000) by the end of this year to build an AI-based public property management service, automating the investigation of unauthorized occupancies and strengthening operational support functions to improve overall management efficiency.
The core of the project involves migrating the existing public property integrated management system to an AI server and automatically detecting parcels suspected of unauthorized occupation through deep-learning analysis of aerial imagery.
By cross-referencing aerial images with property registers, the AI system can automatically flag areas suspected of unauthorized use — work that previously required lengthy manual inspections — significantly cutting investigation time and enabling more accurate, systematic property management. Officials expect the project to mark a significant step forward in how public assets are administered.
Alongside this, the province plans to build an AI digital library for public property using generative AI, offering a question-and-answer service drawing on relevant laws, court precedents and operational guidelines, so that newly assigned staff can carry out their duties more easily and accurately.
Shin Dong-heon, director of the province's Autonomous Safety Office, said the province would "innovate public property investigation and management methods using AI technology to enhance administrative efficiency and the accuracy of property management," adding that it would "support the completion of South Chungcheong Province as South Korea's AI capital."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
