Was the democracy summit in Seoul useful? Participants say open countries are ‘on the offensive’

A recent democracy summit in South Korea may not hold much relevance for less open countries in the region, but they have to deal with common issues faced by all political systems, according to analysts.

The event was first launched by the United States in 2021 to promote democracy and show how democratic systems could better serve the people of various countries. Last year’s summit was co-hosted by the US, Costa Rica, Zambia, the Netherlands and South Korea.

During the third Summit for Democracy held in Seoul last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused China and Russia of conducting malicious propaganda campaigns.

Speaking at the opening of the three-day conference, Blinken said as “authoritarian and repressive regimes deploy technologies to undermine democracy and human rights”, there was a need to ensure technology sustained and supported democratic values and norms.

Andrew Yeo, a politics professor at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC, said as populations grow and societies transform in Asia, countries in the region would have to grapple with issues confronting democracies in general such as labour, gender, development, the rule of law, and anti-corruption.