When NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang visited Seoul National University on June 8, 2026, he received a replica of the Doseongdo (Map of the Capital City), a treasured historical map preserved in the Kyujanggak Royal Library and designated as Korean Treasure No. 1560.
Professor Kim Eje, a geographer who graduated from the Department of Geography Education at Seoul National University and currently teaches Social Studies Education at Gyeongin National University of Education, explains that presenting distinguished international guests with replicas of historical Korean maps has become a tradition at the university.
"Maps are humanity's oldest knowledge platform for understanding space, environments, people, and resources," says Professor Kim. "Today, artificial intelligence analyzes the world through data. For centuries, maps have been humanity's way of interpreting the world. If Physical AI is to function effectively, it must be built upon ultra-precise spatial data."
Speaking at an interview in Seoul on June 15, Professor Kim argued that South Korea has entered an era in which geographic literacy has become a key source of national competitiveness, yet the country still underestimates its importance.
"South Korea is one of the few countries where even diplomats receive little formal education in geography. We have entered an age in which geographic literacy determines national competitiveness, but we still fail to recognize that this itself is a serious problem."
The following are excerpts from the interview.
Q. What is "geographic literacy"?
Kim: Geographic literacy is the ability to read maps, not merely to look at them.
Reading a map requires much more than recognizing shapes and colors. One must understand place names, climate systems, landforms, and the relationships among them. Just as learning English begins with mastering the alphabet before understanding words and sentences, learning geography begins with learning how to interpret maps.
Once people learn to read maps, they become better at reading the world itself. They begin to understand connections among places, people, economies, and cultures. Ultimately, this also leads to better leadership.
That is why I use the term "Map Leadership." A leader who understands the geography of the world is better equipped to determine the right direction for society.
Q. How is "Map Leadership" connected to leadership?
Kim: The most important responsibility of a leader is to determine direction.
If a leader misreads the map, everyone who follows will suffer. No matter how hard people work, their efforts may never lead to meaningful results if the direction itself is wrong.
Today, leadership is often discussed only in terms of psychology, communication, or management. Those perspectives are certainly important during peaceful and stable times.
However, we are now living in an era shaped by geopolitical conflicts, supply-chain disruptions, climate change, and technological competition. In such a world, true leadership begins with understanding geography.
A real leader is someone who can unfold a map of the world, recognize changing global realities, and determine the right direction.
That is why I believe Map Leadership has become one of the most important forms of leadership in the twenty-first century.
Q. What does Geographic Literacy mean in the age of Artificial Intelligence?
Kim: AI is extraordinarily powerful, but it is not neutral.
Its knowledge is shaped by the data on which it is trained. Large parts of the world—particularly developing countries—remain significantly underrepresented in global digital datasets.
For example, when AI systems are asked about Southeast Asia or Africa, they often generate incomplete or inaccurate answers because reliable data are still limited. This is not simply a technological problem; it is fundamentally a geographical one.
Ultimately, humans must judge whether AI-generated information is accurate.
Ironically, however, the number of regional experts capable of making those judgments is steadily declining.
In the age of AI, the most valuable knowledge may no longer be information collected from behind a desk.
Instead, it will come from people who have walked the streets, spoken local languages, understood local cultures, and experienced places firsthand.
I call this ultra-precise spatial data—knowledge grounded in real places rather than abstract databases.
As Physical AI continues to develop, the value of such geographically grounded knowledge will only increase.
Technology alone cannot fully understand the world.
It still requires people who truly know places.
Q. How would you assess the current level of Geographic Literacy in South Korea?
Kim: Few developed countries have marginalized geography as much as South Korea.
There are only a handful of university geography departments, and in elementary schools, geography receives very little attention compared with history.
This is particularly troubling because ASEAN is South Korea's second-largest trading partner, yet Southeast Asia occupies only a small place in our school curriculum.
We frequently talk about multicultural education, but we rarely teach students about the histories, cultures, and geographies of the countries from which many immigrants come.
The same problem exists in diplomatic education.
In 2019, I invited Professor Alexander B. Murphy, then President of the International Geographical Union (IGU), to give a lecture at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy.
It was the first time that a geographer had ever lectured there.
Professor Murphy himself was astonished.
He asked,
"How can diplomats represent their country without studying geography?"
Diplomatic mistakes do not happen by accident.
Confusing Indonesian with Malay in Malaysia, or referring to the Czech Republic as "Czechoslovakia," reflects a deeper problem: a lack of geographic understanding.
Unfortunately, very little has changed since then.
Q. How are other countries responding to the growing importance of geography?
Kim: Let me give you a recent example.
One of President Donald Trump's first executive orders after returning to office was to restore the name "Mount McKinley" to North America's highest peak, replacing the Indigenous name "Denali" that had been adopted during the Obama administration.
Another was to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America."
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum responded not merely with words, but with maps.
She presented historical maps showing that much of what is now the southern United States had once been part of Mexico.
It was a fascinating example of cartographic diplomacy—using maps as evidence in international political debate.
Maps have become instruments of diplomacy.
They are no longer just tools for navigation; they express national identity, historical memory, and geopolitical perspectives.
This is why the National Geographic Society has long maintained the tradition of presenting newly elected U.S. presidents with the latest world map.
A map is never just information.
It is a declaration of how a nation understands the world.
The countries that recognize this reality and those that do not are increasingly taking different paths in international affairs.
Q. Where should we begin if we want to restore Geographic Literacy?
Kim: I believe geography must move beyond the classroom and evolve into a new field of Public Geography.
For too long, geography has remained largely an academic discipline discussed among specialists.
It is time to bring geography back into everyday life.
People should not learn geography only through textbooks. They should experience it with all five senses—through food, travel, conversation, landscapes, and human encounters.
That is why I created The Geographer's Table, an educational program first presented at Seoul National University.
Participants explore different climate regions of the world through food.
Each table represents a different geographical environment—tropical, arid, temperate, alpine, and polar.
While sharing meals, participants also learn about the landscapes, climates, histories, cultures, and people who live in those regions.
Eating, smelling, tasting, listening, and talking become acts of geographical learning.
Education should not only happen inside classrooms.
Sometimes the most memorable geography lesson begins around a dinner table.
Q. Are you suggesting that geography education should move beyond the classroom?
Kim: Absolutely.
Parents and teachers should unfold a map before deciding where children should go and what kinds of experiences they should have.
Today many students spend most of their lives inside classrooms.
Field trips have become increasingly limited, and opportunities for experiential learning continue to decline.
Architecture professor Yoo Hyun-jun once remarked that the structure of schools increasingly resembles that of prisons.
It was a provocative observation, but one that deserves serious reflection.
Children need opportunities to explore the real world.
Geography is not something that should remain inside textbooks.
It is something to be walked, experienced, questioned, and remembered.
Only then can education prepare young people for an increasingly interconnected world.
Q. Competition among young people in South Korea has become increasingly intense. Is this also related to a lack of geographical imagination?
Kim: I believe it is.
Artificial intelligence is transforming the labor market faster than ever before.
Many occupations will disappear, while entirely new careers will emerge.
Yet our educational system still encourages students to discover their future through personality tests or aptitude assessments alone.
I believe we should begin with a world map.
Careers should be imagined geographically.
Students should first ask themselves:
"Where in the world do I want to live?"
"Which regions need my talents?"
"What global challenges do I want to help solve?"
In Korean, the words map (地圖) and career path (進路) both point toward the idea of finding one's direction.
Before planning a career, young people should first unfold a map of the world.
Their future should begin not with fear, but with curiosity.
Q. Can maps really be used to guide young people's career development?
Kim: Absolutely.
Several years ago, I organized a program in which business leaders shared their careers not through résumés or PowerPoint slides, but through maps.
They showed students where they had built railways, developed cities, explored energy resources, managed international projects, or operated global supply chains.
A single map revealed not only where they had worked, but also how they understood the world.
In many schools, students spend their lives looking at timetables and planners.
Those tools organize time.
Maps organize possibility.
I believe young people should begin writing their dreams on a world map.
A timetable tells us when to do something.
A map invites us to ask where we should go and why.
The twenty-first century needs people who can think beyond schedules and see the spatial dimensions of the world.
Q. You have spent decades researching Southeast Asia. What is the greatest misunderstanding that Korean society has about the region?
Kim: I often use the expression "Boutique Multiculturalism."
By that I mean a superficial form of multicultural education.
People eat a bowl of Vietnamese pho, try on an ao dai, take a few photographs, and believe they have become culturally informed.
That is not genuine understanding.
As a result, even students who have received multicultural education often know surprisingly little about Southeast Asia and, in some cases, still hold stereotypes or prejudices.
Real multicultural education begins with learning the history, geography, languages, religions, and everyday lives of people.
Only then can genuine respect develop.
Ironically, while many Koreans still associate fine cuisine primarily with France, international rankings increasingly recognize Southeast Asian cuisines among the world's best.
The world is changing much faster than our educational system.
At the same time, anti-Korean sentiment has begun to grow in some online communities across Southeast Asia.
Many Koreans are unaware of these changes because they have never truly learned about the region.
If we hope to build lasting partnerships with our neighbors, we must first understand them.
Understanding always comes before cooperation.
That is why I believe geographic literacy is ultimately about more than maps.
It is about cultivating the ability to understand places, appreciate differences, and build meaningful relationships across cultures.
In the age of artificial intelligence, that human capacity may become more valuable than ever.
Concluding Remark
Professor Kim Eje argues that geography should no longer be regarded as a minor school subject.
Instead, it should become a fundamental way of understanding an increasingly interconnected world.
In an era defined by artificial intelligence, geopolitical uncertainty, climate change, and global mobility, geographic literacy is no longer optional—it is an essential civic competency.
"Maps do more than tell us where we are," Professor Kim concludes.
"They help us understand who we are, where we are going, and how we are connected to the rest of the world."
[인터뷰] 김이재 경인교대 교수 "AI시대에는 지리적 문해력이 국가 경쟁력" (주간조선 2026년 6월 28일자)
- '지리적 문해력'이란 무엇인가. "'지도를 읽어낼 수 있는 힘'이다. 지도를 단순히 보는 것과 읽는 것은 다른 능력이다. 지명을 알아야 하고, 기후와 지형의 원리를 이해해야 비로소 지도를 읽어낼 수 있다. 영어도 알파벳을 먼저 외워야 단어를 이해하고 문장을 만들 수 있지 않나. 지리도 마찬가지다. 지도를 읽을 줄 알면 세상을 읽고, 연결을 읽기가 쉬워진다. 자연스레 리더십하고도 연결된다. 그래서 '지도력(地圖力)'이라는 표현을 나는 사용한다."
- '지도력'과 리더십은 어떻게 연결되나. "지도자의 가장 큰 덕목이 무엇인가. 방향을 설정하는 것이다. 지도를 잘못 읽으면 뒤따르는 사람들이 고생하고, 노력이 성과로 이어지지 않는다. 우리는 보통 리더십을 심리적으로 해석하는데, 그건 평화로울 때 얘기다. 지금처럼 전쟁과 공급망 위기가 맞물린 시대에는 세계 지도를 펼치고 방향을 잡는 사람이 진짜 지도자다."
- AI 시대에 지리적 문해력은 어떤 의미를 갖나. "AI는 굉장히 편향적이다. 세계 인구의 90%가 사는 제3세계에 대한 정보가 '챗GPT'에 거의 없다. 동남아나 아프리카를 물어보면 할루시네이션(환각현상)이 심하다. 데이터가 없어서다. 결국 AI가 맞는지 틀리는지 판단하는 건 인간인데, 그 판단을 할 수 있는 지역 전문가는 줄어들고 있다. 현장을 뛰는 사람, 그 나라 언어를 하고 냄새를 맡아본 사람의 '초정밀 공간데이터'가 AI 시대에 오히려 더 값어치가 있게 됐다."
- 한국의 지리적 문해력 수준은 어떤가. "지리학이 이렇게 홀대받는 나라가 없다. 지리학과가 있는 대학을 찾아보기 힘들고, 초등학교에서는 지리를 거의 배우지 않고 역사만 가르친다. 아세안(동남아시아국가연합·ASEAN)은 한국의 두 번째 무역 파트너인데 세계사 교과서에서 동남아가 차지하는 비중은 극히 작다. 다문화 교육을 한다면서 정작 그 나라들을 제대로 안 가르친다. 외교관 교육도 마찬가지다. 2019년 세계지리학연맹 회장인 알렉산더 머피 교수를 모셔서 국립외교원에서 강연을 했는데, 지리학자가 그 자리에 선 게 그때가 처음이었다. 머피 교수도 충격을 받았다. '어떻게 외교관이 지리를 안 배우냐'고. 말레이시아에 가서 인도네시아 말을 쓰고, 체코인데 '체코슬로바키아'라고 하는 외교 실수들이 괜히 나온 게 아니다. 그 이후로 바뀐 게 아무것도 없다."
- 다른 나라들은 어떤가. "트럼프 미국 대통령의 첫 번째 행정명령이 뭔지 아나. 알래스카 최고봉 이름을 '매킨리산'으로 되돌리는 것이었다. 오바마 전 대통령이 원주민 전통 명칭인 '디날리산'로 바꿨는데, 취임하자마자 그걸 되돌렸다. 두 번째가 멕시코만을 '아메리카만'으로 바꾸는 거였다. 그러자 클라우디아 셰인바움 멕시코 대통령이 고지도를 꺼내들었다. 원래 북미대륙 대부분이 멕시코 땅이었다는 걸 지도로 반격한 것이다. 지도가 외교전의 무기가 됐다. 미국 내셔널지오그래픽도 대통령이 취임하면 최신 지도를 선물하는 전통이 있다. 지도는 단순한 정보가 아니라 국가의 세계관을 담은 선언이다. 그걸 아는 나라와 모르는 나라의 차이가 지금 외교 현장에서 벌어지고 있다."
- 지리적 문해력 회복, 어디서부터 시작해야 하나. "공공 지리학의 새로운 영역으로 확장해야 한다고 생각한다. 엘리트 중심의 지식이 아니라 일반 대중이 인간적인 감각으로 지리를 체험하는 방식이다. 서울대에서 '지리학자의 식탁'이라는 행사를 기획한 것도 그 때문이다. 열대, 건조, 온대, 고산, 한대 기후를 대표하는 음식을 먹으면서 그 나라의 지리를 이야기한다. 음식을 먹고, 냄새를 맡고, 이야기를 나누는 것 자체가 지리 교육이 될 수 있다."
- 지리 교육이 교실 밖으로 나가야 한다는 말인가. "부모나 교사들이 학교 주변에 지도를 펼치고 아이들이 어디로 나가서 어떤 체험을 해야 할지를 고민해야 한다. 아이들이 수학여행도 못 가고 체험 활동도 못 하고 교실에 갇혀 있다. 유현준 홍익대 교수가 그랬다. 학교의 과목 구조나 공간 구조가 교도소와 똑같다고. 졸업할 때 두부를 먹여야 한다고. 그 말이 틀리지 않다."
- 한국 청년들 사이에 경쟁이 극심하다. 이것도 지리적 상상력 부족과 연결되나. "AI 때문에 직업이 빠르게 사라지고 있다. 그런데 우리는 여전히 심리검사로 진로를 찾고 있다. 나는 그 해법이 세계 지도라고 생각한다. 진로는 지도 위에서 결정돼야 한다. 지도(地圖)와 진로(進路)는 둘 다 '나아갈 길'이지 않나. 세계 지도를 펼치고, 그 위에서 진로 찾기를 시작해야 한다."
- '지도'로 '진로'를 교육할 수 있나. "기업인들이 자신의 경험을 지도 위에 표시하고 후배들에게 설명하는 자리를 마련한 적이 있다. 어느 나라에 철도를 깔았는지, 어느 바다에서 참치를 잡는지를 지도로 보여주는 것이다. 지도 한 장에 회사의 가치관이 담긴 셈이다. 우리는 항상 시간표와 다이어리만 본다. 이제는 지도 위에 자신의 꿈을 적어나가야 한다. 노예에게는 일정표만 필요하다. 시간을 넘어 공간을 보는 인재가 필요한 때다."
- 동남아를 특히 오래 연구했다. 한국 사회가 가장 크게 오해하고 있는 게 뭔가. "내가 '부티크 다문화주의'라고 부르는 게 있다. 쌀국수 먹고, 아오자이(베트남 전통 의상) 입어보고는 다문화 했다고 하는 거다. 그러니 다문화 교육을 받은 학생들조차 동남아를 무시한다. 그 나라를 제대로 배운 적이 없으니까. 우리는 음식 하면 여전히 프랑스를 떠올리지만, 세계에서 가장 맛있는 음식 순위 상위권을 동남아 음식이 휩쓸고 있다. K팝의 화려한 측면만 보고 있는 사이, 동남아에서는 한국에 반감을 가진 온라인 커뮤니티가 빠르게 늘고 있다. 그 나라를 알아야 그 나라와 제대로 교류할 수 있다."
