AI-based CCTV cameras to be installed across Seoul by 2026 to monitor violent crimes

By Kim Joo-heon Posted : December 29, 2023, 13:56 Updated : December 29, 2023, 16:45
Courtesy of Seoul City
[Courtesy of Seoul City]
SEOUL -- Seoul will install artificial intelligence-based closed-circuit television cameras across the city to detect abnormal activities and notify monitoring agents if a person is in need. Among some 160,000 closed-circuit television cameras in the capital city, about 85,000 of them will be replaced with smart monitoring solutions.

AI-based CCTV systems that recognize people and their surroundings are used for early signs of accidents or crimes. According to data released by Seoul in October, social unrest is increasing due to the incidents targeting an unspecified number of the public. In July this year, a man in his 30s killed one man and injured three people with a knife near Sillim Station in southwestern Seoul. Only 13 days after the stabbing rampage, 14 victims were injured by a man in his 20s who intentionally hit pedestrians with a car and stabbed people at a department store in Seongnam, a southeastern satellite city of Seoul. 

According to the capital city government, AI-based CCTV cameras will be installed all across Seoul by 2026. Around 15,000 outdated CCTV cameras will be replaced with entirely new devices with AI functions, while 70,000 devices will be upgraded by adding AI features. An infrared function could be incorporated for night-time inspection.

Seoul plans to install 10,657 new CCTV cameras by 2026. AI features will be integrated into all newly installed security cameras in Seoul. The project will kick off by deploying 4,784 smart devices, mainly in areas with a large floating population or high crime rate, such as parks and hiking trails.  

"We will significantly reduce security blind spots to protect Seoulites from indiscriminate crimes and actions with abnormal motives, and help them alleviate anxiety," Seoul's digital policy bureau director Kim Jin-man said in a statement on December 28. 
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