Anchor: The third Summit for Democracy is set to begin in South Korea next week. The country has become the first solo host of the Washington-led summit outside of the United States. In an exclusive interview with KBS, Kelly Razzouk, White House National Security Council Senior Director for Democracy and Human Rights welcomed South Korea hosting the summit, while stressing the summit is not aimed at shaming certain countries. 
Kim Bum-soo has recapped the interview. 

Report: The Summit for Democracy was launched three years ago by the United States to increase cooperation among democracies around the world.

Ahead of this year’s summit in South Korea from next Monday to Wednesday, White House NSC Senior Director for Democracy and Human Rights Kelly Razzouk sat down with KBS, highlighting the significance of this year's theme, "democracy for future generations.”

[Sound bite: Kelly Razzouk - White House National Security Council Senior Director for Democracy and Human Rights]  
“... South Korea has chosen for its theme to focus on ‘democracy for future generations’ and we think that message is so critically important… And so for South Korea to focus on this is tremendously important this year. We also know that half of the world’s population is under the age of 30, so engaging them in democracy promotion, encouraging them, listening to them, hearing their voices is tremendously important. And so we’re thrilled that South Korea has chosen this as its theme for its agenda this year.” 

South Korea is the first solo host of the Washington-led summit outside of the United States. 

[Sound bite: Kelly Razzouk - White House National Security Council Senior Director for Democracy and Human Rights] 
“One of the things that we've been very focused on this year is 2024 has been called the year of elections. We’re looking at almost half of the world going to the polls and voting this year. And so democracy promotion and elections are incredibly important, and so South Korea hosting this summit at this critical moment is very important.”

Critics argue that the summit, which promotes solidarity among democratic countries, may isolate China and Russia, and create a new cold war. 

[Sound bite: Kelly Razzouk - White House National Security Council Senior Director for Democracy and Human Rights]  
“It’s important that we gather countries to talk about democracy, to talk about threats to democracy, to talk about democratic reform. We haven’t been focused on shaming countries.” 

The White House NSC said that South Korea’s role in developing democracy will be announced at the summit, along with how Seoul and Washington will cooperate to achieve that aim. 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to South Korea to attend a meeting on Monday for the Summit for Democracy, though the plenary session to be attended by global leaders will be held virtually. 
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News