U of A Music Professor Wins Award for AI-Enhanced Korean Music Research

Reviving Ancient Korean Song with AI: University of Arkansas Professor Honored for Interdisciplinary Research

Moon-Sook Park, an associate professor of music specializing in voice performance at the University of Arkansas, has received the Best Paper Award at the 40th annual Conference of the Korean American Professors Association (KAUPA). The conference, held on January 23, 2026, at the University of Texas at San Antonio, recognized Park’s innovative work bridging historical Korean music, artificial intelligence and contemporary vocal performance.

Park’s presentation, “600 Years Reimagined: Reviving King Sejong the Great’s Yongbieocheonga Through Generative AI and Modern-Classical Vocal Interpretation,” stood out among submissions from KAUPA scholars for its interdisciplinary approach to Korean studies in the age of AI. The project centers on Yongbieocheonga (Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven), a 15th-century work composed by King Sejong the Great, a pivotal figure in Korean history credited with creating the Korean phonetic script, Hunminjeongeum.

Yongbieocheonga holds a unique position in Korean cultural history as the first literary work written in Hunminjeongeum. While the text itself has been preserved, the original performance traditions associated with the music have largely been lost over time. Park’s research addresses this loss by exploring how the ancient melodies can be re-embodied for modern audiences through contemporary classical vocal interpretation.

Her work specifically focuses on Chihwapyeong, a principal musical setting within Yongbieocheonga. Park’s approach involves adapting the modern Korean language and applying classical vocal techniques to explore meaningful re-interpretations of the historical melodic structures. This allows for a connection between the ancient court music and a contemporary classical vocal context.

A crucial element of Park’s project is the AI-based analytical framework developed independently by Dasaem Jeong (Sogang University, Korea) and his research team in Korea and England. Their team utilized generative AI techniques to reconstruct the structural principles of 15th-century Korean court music. This analysis provided a foundation for Park’s contemporary musical exploration, offering insights into the original composition’s architecture.

Park emphasized the importance of this technological research in informing artistic inquiry, while simultaneously preserving the interpretive agency of the performer. The integration of AI isn’t about replacing artistic expression, but rather providing a deeper understanding of the historical context and structure of the music.

The KAUPA conference theme, “Korean Studies in the Artificial Intelligence Era: Multidisciplinary Research by Korean Scholars Transforming the World,” underscored the growing importance of cross-disciplinary scholarship. Park’s project exemplifies this mission by integrating historical research, emerging technology, and embodied artistic practice to re-engage with Korea’s traditional legacy within a contemporary performance setting.

The award recognizes not only Park’s individual achievement but also the University of Arkansas Department of Music’s commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship. It highlights Park’s role as an artist-scholar who bridges historical tradition, technological inquiry, and contemporary classical vocal performance.

This recognition comes at a time of increasing interest in the intersection of AI and the arts. December 31, 2025, Mippia, a South Korean company, announced plans to pursue global standardization of its AI-based music plagiarism detection platform, following its selection as a CES 2026 Innovation Award winner. While Park’s work focuses on reconstruction and reinterpretation rather than detection, it demonstrates a similar forward-thinking approach to leveraging AI within the musical landscape.

Further demonstrating Korean innovation in the field of AI, Professor Xin Lyu of the Communication University of China was honored with the Global Fred Award for AI Education Outstanding Contributor on January 22, 2026. This award acknowledges Lyu’s contributions to digital media art education and the integration of technology with humanity. These awards collectively signal a growing emphasis on AI’s role in shaping the future of Korean arts and culture.

In addition to these developments, Professor Insik Shin of KAIST received the Influential Paper Award 2025 at the IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium on December 4, 2025, for his research on the “Periodic Resource Model,” published in 2003. While Shin’s work is in the field of real-time systems, it highlights the broader recognition of Korean researchers making significant contributions to technological advancements. His research focuses on verifying individual components of complex systems, ensuring safety and precision – principles that could have implications for the development and implementation of AI-driven musical analysis tools.

Park’s work, represents a compelling example of how technology can be used to revitalize and reimagine cultural heritage, offering new avenues for artistic expression and scholarly inquiry. It underscores the potential for AI to not simply replicate or replace human creativity, but to enhance our understanding and appreciation of the past.