South Korea backs AI smart city pilots in Southeast Asia

South Korea selected six AI-based smart city pilot projects across five Southeast Asian countries under its 2026 K-City Network program.

Brunei will test an AI platform for water management and disaster response, while Bacoor in the Philippines will trial a smart traffic signal system.

Vietnam’s projects cover on-demand transport in Ho Chi Minh City and AI-based intersection control in Can Tho.

Surin in Thailand will test a safety system for aging buildings, and Penang in Malaysia will deploy tools to detect accidents and congestion.

The initiative is meant to address urban problems and support overseas expansion by Korean companies.

🔗 Source: Yonhap

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

The K-City Network is a government program launched in 2020 by South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT), the department that oversees national transport, housing, and urban policy 1.
It aims to help overseas cities tackle urban problems through government-to-government cooperation, while opening export work for Korean companies 1.
It supports projects with master planning and feasibility studies, which are early plans and business-case checks for smart city development based on Korean experience and knowledge 1.
The effort draws on domestic lessons since 2003, including setbacks tied to Songdo, a high-profile smart city district built on reclaimed land near Seoul 2.

These projects also place South Korea in a quiet regional contest with Japan and China, as each tries to export national smart city models across Asia 3.
The competition reaches beyond sales into tech diplomacy, where governments use technology partnerships to shape regional approaches to urban technology and infrastructure, plus influence future procurement choices by city and national authorities 3.
Japan advances its approach through development assistance and the Japan Association for Smart Cities in ASEAN (JASCA), a regional group focused on smart city cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, while China pushes its Digital Silk Road initiative, the technology arm of Beijing’s broader Belt and Road overseas infrastructure strategy 3.
The K-City Network also sits within a wider Korean soft-power ecosystem that includes the Knowledge Sharing Program (KSP), a government initiative that has shared Korean policy expertise with 92 countries since 2004 4.