Speaker: Suk-Ki Kong (SNUAC)
Moderator: Johanna Zulueta (Toyo University)

There is a high need for ‘critical reflection’ on crises and challenges facing South Korean civil society, civil society movements, CSOs, and citizens. This lecture tries to focus on the connection between macro and micro, i.e. beyond neoliberal globalization to the digital revolution and convergence to a digital platform economy. This lectures also tries to highlight the ‘unique’ growth of CSOs in South Korea amid the rush to modernization but also to critically analyze the so-called ‘catch-up’ expansion of CSOs into the broader civil society space. Korean civil society organizations have been not only working on the Information regime but also desperately developing a strategy for the ALGOCRACY challenge from below. We do believe that the Korean Civil Society Organizations should converge on reflections on ‘Citizenship’ and a Return to ‘Grassroots Global Citizenship.’ We also recommend them to actively engage in an experiment to build a “Light Community” by revitalizing grassroots movements.