AI Summit Seoul Opens Next Week at COEX. Here’s the Ticket Math.

Seoul’s applied-AI week is almost here—and the pass you still want is still for sale, if you do not need the VIP stack.

AI Summit Seoul’s ninth edition opens Wednesday, August 19, at COEX in Gangnam: two conference days through Thursday the 20th, with the expo floor running into Friday the 21st. DMK Global organizes the show with COEX and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). DMK also runs MIT Technology Review Korea, which is why the room reads bilingual and enterprise from the start. Organizer FAQ language puts attendance in the multi-thousand range—roughly 3,000-plus people from thirty-plus countries—so treat the bigger marketing totals on the about page as aspiration, not a census.

What still buys, on the live register page as of August 10: a Full Conference Ticket for about $860 (marked down from a $1,200 list), a one-day conference pass for about $520, and an expo-only ticket for about $20 online. Already sold out: the Networking Dinner package, the All Inclusive package, and the full-conference-plus-tour stack. That split is the story. The bilingual rooms and the Hall B floor are still open. The curated dinner and airport-transfer VIP product are not.

Refund math matters because the calendar does not care about Pacific time zones. As of today you are nine days out, which puts cancellations in the 50 percent window—eight to fourteen days before the event. Full refunds required fifteen or more days of runway, and that date has already passed. Within seven days, or on a no-show, the published policy is zero. If you are still debating from San Francisco or Singapore, buy only if you intend to walk into COEX. This is not a soft hold.

Conference versus expo is a cleaner decision than the price ladder suggests. A conference pass covers morning keynotes, four afternoon tracks, meals, and Korean–English simultaneous interpretation. Expo alone is demos and the startup zone without the session hall. If you are crossing for meetings and applied use cases, buy Full Conference. If you are already in Seoul for other work and want a half-day walk of vendors, the twenty-dollar expo ticket is enough.

Logistics favor people who treat Gangnam as the trip, not a side errand. COEX Grand Ballroom and Hall B sit on Yeongdong-daero with Samseong Station underground. From Incheon International Airport (ICN), the Airport Railroad Express to Seoul Station and then Line 2 is the usual hour-plus pattern; limousine buses toward Gangnam and COEX still work when luggage is heavy. Partner hotel rates at The Westin Seoul Parnas and Shilla Stay Samsung go through the organizer’s attendee contact—useful when Samsung-dong inventory is already tight for a midweek show.

Visa invitation letters go only to paid conference ticket holders, not expo walkers. The register page warns processing can take up to four weeks; the FAQ says letters in three to five business days. With nine days left, anyone who still needs a fresh invitation letter is already late for a clean consular timeline. Confirm K-ETA or visa rules for your passport before you buy a hope ticket.

The agenda is still filling. Day-one framing on the site leans AI Frontier, Agentic AI, and Connected Intelligence; the detailed speaker grid was still updating at verification. Do not fly for a named keynote until you see it locked. Fly for Korea’s applied-AI density in one building—enterprise buyers, vendors, and bilingual rooms—then schedule your own meetings around COEX.

If you are not already in East Asia, decide tonight. The dinner tables are full. The conference seats are not. That gap closes faster than a Pacific itinerary can recover.