In December last year, South Korea faced an unexpected emergency martial law that struck a blow to democracy and threw society into turmoil. During this crisis, VALID, a youth-centred political action lab, launched an AI-based citizen petition platform that enabled more than 2,500 people to send appeals to the Constitutional Court. The platform also analysed the keywords in these appeals to visualise citizens’ future visions that had previously remained invisible. This initiative gained strong public support and drew significant media attention.

Following the successful impeachment, VALID has been deepening its commitment to political and democratic innovation through technology, creating projects to improve South Korea’s outdated political system and strengthen representation.

How can technological development lead to innovation in politics and democracy? Can technology be used not as a tool of isolation and division but as one that opens new possibilities for dialogue? Can it make invisible voices visible and reinforce the political representation of marginalised groups?

This session will share the experiences and insights of South Korean tech activists and researchers working on political and democratic innovation, and invite participants to reflect on collective action.