President Yoon Suk Yeol has called for participants in the Summit of Democracy to share their experiences and pool their wisdom to ensure artificial intelligence(AI) and new digital technologies protect the safety of individuals and society while promoting democracy.

The president made the call on Monday in the opening ceremony for a ministerial conference of the third Summit for Democracy at a hotel in Seoul, saying that democracy cannot be protected with the efforts of just one country or one person. 

Yoon said that innovations in artificial intelligence and digital technology are transcending the limitations of time and space and turning dreams into reality.

Yoon continued to say that fake news and disinformation using such technology not only impacts individual freedom and human rights, but also threatens the democratic system, adding the digital divide between countries widens the economic gap, which in turn widens the gap in democracy. 

The president also mentioned Korea’s “Digital Bill of Rights” unveiled in September last year in New York, which offers guidelines to ensure AI and other digital technologies expand, not restrict, the freedom of humanity.