Yoon: "A Heavy Mission to Confront Challenges to Authoritarianism"... Closing of the 3rd Democracy Summit

President Yoon Suk-yeol on the 21st addressed world leaders regarding the global rise of authoritarianism and anti-intellectualism, stating, "Our mission and responsibility to confront these challenges are more crucial than ever," and urged cooperation to uphold the values of democracy.

At the closing ceremony of the 3rd Democracy Summit, President Yoon said, "The future of youth, children, and our next generation depends on our efforts today."

Regarding the significance of democracy and the Democracy Summit, he evaluated, "Democracy is an essential condition for establishing the foundation of global security and prosperity," adding, "The past three summits have reaffirmed our firm belief in this."

He continued, "Leaders of countries sharing universal values, along with civil society, private sectors, international organizations, and academia from around the world, gathered to pool wisdom to advance democracy," and added, "Of course, it would be premature to say that our aspirations for global democracy have been fully met after just three summits."

In particular, it was pledged that "the Republic of Korea, together with all democratic countries worldwide, will continue efforts to consolidate the achievements of this summit and to mature global democracy to the next level."

Before the summit opened, a pledge video was broadcast introducing various efforts by our government to ensure that new technologies enhancing human welfare and benefits do not undermine democracy, including ▲strengthening the accountability of online platform operators to prevent the spread of false and manipulated information ▲customized 'fact-check' education to help future generations discern false information and fake news ▲content filtering inspections by online operators to eradicate the distribution of digital sexual crime materials.

President Yoon also announced that to contribute to the promotion of democracy in developing countries, a development cooperation project worth 100 million USD will be implemented over three years starting this year in areas such as e-government, digital technology capacity, transparency, and anti-corruption.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

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He reiterated in the closing remarks that global cooperation among countries is essential for the restoration of democracy worldwide. President Yoon emphasized, "While the 3rd Summit concludes today, our great journey for democracy will continue," adding, "we must conduct a strong and systematic anti-propaganda campaign through joint responses."

Earlier, in his remarks at the second session themed "Technology, Elections, and Fake News," President Yoon urged, "Democratic countries sharing universal values must unite to jointly respond to fake news," and stressed that if fake news does not cease, a systematic joint anti-propaganda campaign must be launched.

He also stated, "With the closing, the chair’s summary of this 3rd Summit will be released," and added, "It vividly records the intense discussions over the past three days, as well as the experiences and insights we shared."

According to a written briefing by Presidential Spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung, the resulting document will broadly include ▲the impact of new technologies on democracy ▲the roles of government and private sectors in democratic development ▲the necessity and measures to counter fake news and false manipulated information ▲the directions global democracy should take for future generations, and diverse views from participating countries.

Spokesperson Kim said, "Following the baton from the United States, which led the 1st and 2nd Democracy Summits, the 3rd Democracy Summit hosted by our government became an opportunity to deepen solidarity among democratic nations for the promotion of global democracy," and evaluated, "Especially, this summit themed 'Democracy for Future Generations' gathered world leaders to share wisdom on the impact of new technologies such as artificial intelligence on democracy, the role of youth in democratic development, and international cooperation measures to counter fake news and false manipulated information."

He added, "As the host and co-chair country, we played a leading role in presenting the direction global democracy should take for future generations."

Meanwhile, the 3rd Democracy Summit held in Korea over three days from the 18th was attended by a total of 36 heads of state, including President Yoon, co-chair Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark, President William Ruto of Kenya, UN Secretary-General Ant?nio Guterres, US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

On the 18th and 19th, ministerial meetings, expert roundtables, and discussions involving domestic and international civil society were held under the theme "Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Technology, and Democracy."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

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