Science Minister Lee Jong-ho, left, is seen in this Oct. 24 photo provided by the ministry. Yonhap

Korea and Britain will co-host a mini virtual summit next year as part of the inaugural global AI Safety Summit, aiming to facilitate international cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence, Seoul's science ministry said Thursday.

The mini summit will be held six months before the second annual AI Safety Summit in order to assess the progress of the follow-up measures from the inaugural event taking place at Bletchley Park in central England.

"I am pleased that Korea and the United Kingdom are jointly hosting the mini summit," said Science Minister Lee Jong-ho said. "Korea is committed to making a responsible contribution to advancing the discussion on establishing a global framework for the safe use of AI."

At the AI summit that continues until Thursday (local time), representatives and companies from 28 countries, including Korea and the United States, issued a joint declaration calling upon the global community to collectively explore strategies for mitigating potential risks posed by rapidly developing AI technologies. (Yonhap)