Dr. Haksoo Ko is a Professor at Seoul National University School of Law in Seoul, South Korea. He is renowned as a leading scholar in legal and policy issues concerning data privacy and artificial intelligence.
He served as Chairperson of South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) from 2022 to 2025, overseeing critical developments in the country’s data protection landscape. Internationally, he made contributions as a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Privacy Assembly between 2023 and 2025 and participated in the UN’s High-Level Advisory Body on AI between 2023 and 2024. He is currently a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK). His expertise bridges the domains of law, economics, and technology, reflecting a rare combination of ministerial-level policy experience and interdisciplinary academic accomplishment.
Throughout his career, Dr. Ko has held numerous advisory positions for the Korean government and for a variety of public and private organizations around the globe. His public service, especially in technology-related areas, has earned him distinguished honors including a Service Merit Medal and a Presidential Citation from the Korean government. For his academic contributions, he was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship for Experienced Researchers as well as a Google Faculty Research Award.
As an academic, he primarily teaches areas in Law and Economics as well as in Data Privacy and Artificial Intelligence Law. Prior to joining academia, he practiced law with law firms in both New York and Seoul. His leadership roles have included serving as President of the Asian Law and Economics Association; President of the Korean Law and Economics Association; President of the Korean Association for AI and Law; Co-director of SNU AI Policy Initiative (SAPI); and Associate Director of SNU AI Institute. He has held visiting appointments at distinguished institutions such as UC Berkeley, University of Hamburg, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, University of Freiburg, and National University of Singapore. He earned his BA in Economics from Seoul National University, and both JD and PhD in Economics from Columbia University.