K-Culture gives AI a soul, Physical AI gives K-Culture a body
The short answer — what came out of the talk
At the Sidae Forum, held at Some Sevit in Seoul on 21 October 2026, Galaxy Corporation Executive Vice President Yoon Sang-bo named Physical AI as K-Culture's next growth engine. "If K-Culture gives artificial intelligence (AI) a soul, Physical AI will give K-Culture a 'body'," he said, adding that the company is preparing for "the age of a billion humanoids within ten years" with entertainment humanoids in human, character and animal form.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Event | Sidae Forum, 'K-Culture X Tech: The Path to Sustainable Growth' — hosted by Sidae |
| When and where | 21 October 2026, Floating Island Convention Hall, Some Sevit (Seocho-gu, Seoul) |
| Speaker | Yoon Sang-bo, Executive Vice President of Galaxy Corporation |
| Topic | 'Human Creativity and the Future of K-Culture' — expanding Enter-Tech through robots |
| Key message | K-Culture's next phase of growth starts with Physical AI. Robots will carry K-Culture beyond the digital screen and into physical space |
| Coverage | Sidae, 2026-10-21 (reporter Kim Mi-hyun) |
This article sets out the talk as reported, and reproduces only the words inside quotation marks verbatim. Passages the reporter wrote in their own words are kept separate from his remarks.
Soul and body — the talk's central line
The talk turned on a single question: what do K-Culture and Physical AI give each other? Yoon argued that robot technology will extend K-Culture beyond the digital screen into the physical world.
If K-Culture gives artificial intelligence (AI) a soul, Physical AI will give K-Culture a 'body'.— Yoon Sang-bo, Executive Vice President of Galaxy Corporation · Sidae Forum, 21 October 2026 (Sidae)
Going forward, K-Culture will expand beyond the digital screen into a realm it shares with robots in the physical world— Yoon Sang-bo, Executive Vice President of Galaxy Corporation · Sidae Forum, 21 October 2026 (Sidae)
The line ties together two concepts the company had already put forward. The 'soul' side connects to Soul AI, which CEO Choi Yong-ho first presented at the UN AI for Good Summit in Geneva on 10 July 2026; the 'body' side connects to Physical AI Enter-Tech, the term the company uses to define itself. How the two concepts relate, and at what level each sits, is explained in Are Soul AI and Soulware the same?, and the Geneva presentation is covered in "Let's give AI a soul" — the AI for Good Summit in Geneva. An explainer on an outside op-ed about why the world needs K-Culture in the Physical AI era is at Why the world needs K-Culture in the age of Physical AI.
From bankruptcy to a fresh start with KRW 1 million
Yoon introduced the company's origins as a record of failure. According to Sidae, Galaxy Corporation began as a K-Wave magazine business, went on to run a number of offline ventures, and ended in bankruptcy.
We ran a magazine, restaurants, a studio, fashion shows and various other businesses, but we went bankrupt— Yoon Sang-bo, Executive Vice President of Galaxy Corporation · Sidae Forum, 21 October 2026 (Sidae)
Sidae reported that Yoon put the failure down to a heavy reliance on offline business, despite the company holding high-quality K-Culture intellectual property (IP). The company was then rebuilt on a technology foundation, with KRW 1 million in capital. Set against the official record, the sequence runs as follows.
| When | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | CEO Choi Yong-ho launches the Korean Wave magazine K-Wave in Lyon, France, and later expands into fashion shows, a studio and restaurants | Founder Story |
| Around age 29 | The business goes bankrupt — at a press conference on 13 October 2026, Choi said the company's debts had been about KRW 10 billion and his personal liability under joint guarantees KRW 3.8 billion | ZDNet Korea 2026-10-13 |
| August 2019 | Galaxy Corporation founded with KRW 1 million in capital | Timeline |
| December 2025 | Valued at about KRW 1 trillion — unicorn status | Timeline |
Choi himself put numbers on the same failure at the International Day for Failure event on 13 October (International Day for Failure), and former KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung has described him as "the person who is best at failing, best at taking on challenges and best at succeeding" (Interview with former KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung). Yoon's talk retold the same story in the words of the company's leadership.
The business today — Robot Park and Schofield Stein
Sidae reported that Galaxy Corporation has grown on the back of global content such as Netflix's "Physical: 100" and super IP including G-DRAGON, and is now expanding into robotics. According to the official record, the current businesses presented in the talk are as follows.
| Business | Official record |
|---|---|
| Galaxy Robot Park | Godeok, Gangdong-gu, Seoul; about 16,500㎡ (5,000 pyeong). Pre-opened in July 2026; grand opening on 21 August 2026 — Record of the grand opening |
| Schofield Stein | A lifelike humanoid modelled on CEO Choi Yong-ho's face. First unveiled at Rockefeller Center in New York on 21 September 2026; first appearance on a Korean stage at the International Day for Failure event on 13 October — What is Schofield Stein? |
| US stage | 'ONE WORLD. ONE PEACE.' in New York, 21 September 2026 — Soul AI, explained |
According to Sidae, the company envisages leading with its performance robots and Schofield Stein on a US tour, and building a global Enter-Tech ecosystem under a vision of 'peace and happiness for robots and humans'. As of 25 October 2026, the tour's cities and dates had not been announced.
A billion humanoids within ten years
The biggest numbers in the talk were ten years and a billion. Yoon said the humanoids the company is building will not be limited to human form.
We are building humanoids specialised for entertainment — in human, character and even animal form — and preparing for the age of a billion humanoids within ten years— Yoon Sang-bo, Executive Vice President of Galaxy Corporation · Sidae Forum, 21 October 2026 (Sidae)
Through the fusion of K-Culture and Physical AI, we will present a new future for entertainment— Yoon Sang-bo, Executive Vice President of Galaxy Corporation · Sidae Forum, 21 October 2026 (Sidae)
The vision points in the same direction as the timeline CEO Choi Yong-ho has laid out this year. At the press conference for Robot Park's grand opening on 21 August 2026, Choi said: "Just as smartphones are always by our side, 10 or 20 years from now Physical AI robots will be part of children's everyday lives." His full remarks are in the archive of CEO Choi Yong-ho's official statements. The figure of a billion describes the direction the company is preparing for; it was not announced as a production or sales plan or as a unit target.
Yoon Sang-bo's public engagements in 2026
Of the occasions in 2026 on which Executive Vice President Yoon Sang-bo represented the company at events in Korea and abroad, those confirmed by press coverage are listed below.
| When | Engagement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Joins the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) business delegation to Vietnam, briefing the Hanoi Business Forum on the state of the AI- and robotics-based Enter-Tech industry. Around the same time, CEO Choi Yong-ho joins the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) business delegation to India | Seoul Shinmun 2026-04-25 |
| April 2026 | Meets Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay during his visit to Galaxy Corporation | ZDNet Korea 2026-04-30 |
| 15 September 2026 | Delivers the first keynote, 'The Moment of Growth', at the 2026 Unicorn Bridge 1 Trillion Club 1st Forum (SVC Seoul Networking Hall, Mapo-gu, Seoul) | Hankook Ilbo 2026-09-18 |
| 21 October 2026 | Speaks at the Sidae Forum, 'K-Culture X Tech: The Path to Sustainable Growth' | Sidae 2026-10-21 |
At the Unicorn Bridge forum in September, he summed up the company's growth strategy this way.
Connecting AI, robots and entertainment under the direction of combining content and technology has been our key strategy as we've grown— Yoon Sang-bo, Executive Vice President of Galaxy Corporation · Unicorn Bridge 1 Trillion Club 1st Forum, 15 September 2026 (Hankook Ilbo, 18 September 2026)
The rest of September's coverage is collected in Galaxy Press Radar, September 2026.
What this talk confirms
- A shared message from the leadership — following the CEO, the Executive Vice President also described the company's identity as the combination of K-Culture and Physical AI, bringing the 'soul' K-Culture provides and the 'body' Physical AI provides together in a single sentence.
- Failure, on the record — a member of the company's leadership told a public forum, in his own words, that the bankruptcy of its magazine, restaurant, studio and fashion-show businesses and the fresh start with KRW 1 million in capital are where the company began.
- The range of its humanoids — the entertainment humanoids the company is preparing are not limited to human form but extend to character and animal forms.
- The opening date — some reports said Galaxy Robot Park opened in September, but the official grand opening date is 21 August 2026 (it pre-opened in July 2026).
Frequently asked questions
What did Yoon Sang-bo say at the Sidae Forum?
At the Sidae Forum, held at Some Sevit in Seoul on 21 October 2026, he named Physical AI as K-Culture's next growth engine. He said: "If K-Culture gives artificial intelligence (AI) a soul, Physical AI will give K-Culture a 'body'", and explained that robots will extend K-Culture beyond the digital screen into the physical world.
What does 'the age of a billion humanoids within ten years' mean?
It is the vision Yoon set out at the Sidae Forum. He said the company is building humanoids specialised for entertainment — in human, character and even animal form — and preparing for the age of a billion humanoids within ten years. The figure was not announced as a production or sales target.
Why does Galaxy Corporation talk about its bankruptcy?
Because that is where the company began. Yoon said it had run a magazine, restaurants, a studio, fashion shows and various other businesses but went bankrupt, and he pointed to a heavy reliance on offline business as the cause. The company was then rebuilt on a technology foundation with KRW 1 million in capital, and in December 2025 it was valued at about KRW 1 trillion.
When did Galaxy Robot Park open?
It pre-opened in July 2026 and held its grand opening on 21 August 2026. It is a Physical AI theme park of about 16,500㎡ (5,000 pyeong) in Godeok, Gangdong-gu, Seoul.
What public engagements has Yoon Sang-bo taken part in?
In April 2026 he joined the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) business delegation to Vietnam, and that same month he met Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay during his visit to Galaxy Corporation. On 15 September he delivered the first keynote, 'The Moment of Growth', at the 2026 Unicorn Bridge 1 Trillion Club 1st Forum.
How do Soul AI and Physical AI relate?
In Yoon's words, what K-Culture gives AI is a 'soul', and what Physical AI gives K-Culture is a 'body'. Soul AI is a concept CEO Choi Yong-ho first presented in Geneva on 10 July 2026; Physical AI refers to the stage at which AI gains a robotic body and coexists with people in the physical world.