Hanjin President Cho Hyun-min makes first move as public safety industry association chief

Cho Hyun-min, president of Hanjin, has made her first official move as inaugural chair of the Korea Public Safety Industry Promotion Association, outlining plans to strengthen cooperation between public institutions such as police and private technology companies and to build a public safety industry ecosystem leveraging AI, robotics and other advanced technologies.

Hanjin announced Friday that Cho chaired the association's general assembly Wednesday at Songdo Convensia in Incheon and attended the 2026 Korea Public Safety Industry Expo.

The assembly was the first regular general meeting since the association launched in September. Cho discussed the association's operational direction and future project plans, emphasizing the importance of collaboration between the public safety sector and private technology firms.

"The association must serve as a solid bridge connecting public safety with private innovation, and as the driving force behind the leap forward of the future public safety industry," Cho said, calling on the association to take an active role.

The Korea Public Safety Industry Promotion Association held its founding general assembly on Sept. 15. The organization was set up to support technology development, commercialization and overseas expansion in the domestic public safety industry, with participation from security-related companies, universities and research institutions. Cho was elected inaugural chair at the founding assembly.

At the founding assembly, Cho said, "To protect the peaceful daily lives that citizens enjoy, we must proactively prepare for a wide range of hard-to-predict threats, and that requires both the capabilities of those working on the front lines of public safety and the backing of advanced technology and industry."

She added that she would "work to build a healthy industrial ecosystem encompassing everything from research and development of security technologies to training specialized personnel, institutional support and entry into global markets, in order to strengthen the competitiveness of South Korea's public safety industry."

After the general assembly, Cho attended the opening ceremony of the expo and toured exhibition booths of major companies. She examined advanced public safety equipment and technologies on display and exchanged views on cooperation with officials from relevant agencies and industry representatives.

This year's expo is co-hosted by the Korean National Police Agency and Incheon and runs four days from Wednesday through Saturday. A total of 245 companies are participating with around 880 booths, showcasing a range of technologies including AI, robotics, video security and criminal investigation equipment.

The event also features an export consultation session with 82 overseas buyers from 31 countries, an AI patrol robot evaluation, and a procurement consultation session with public institutions. The focus extends beyond introducing the technologies of domestic public safety companies to actively supporting commercialization and securing overseas sales channels.

The Korea Public Safety Industry Promotion Association also set up a dedicated promotional booth during the event to introduce its activities and recruit new member companies.

The association plans to pursue an industry-academia-research cooperation framework linking police, companies, universities and research institutions as a core project. It intends to identify companies with field-applicable technologies — including AI, robotics and intelligent closed-circuit television — and support technology demonstration and commercialization.

In addition, the association plans to expand cooperation with relevant agencies to help domestic public safety companies enter overseas markets. It will focus on supporting the application of technologies still at the research and development stage to actual public safety operations and helping them generate new business opportunities.