Webinar to discuss democracy of Australia, Sweden, Korea amid pandemic

By Yi Whan-woo

The Embassy of Sweden in Seoul and International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) will co-host a webinar, June 9, to share thoughts and experiences from Sweden, Korea and Australia on protecting democracy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The webinar, titled “Democracy in the times of coronavirus,” will begin at 9:45 a.m. in Stockholm, 4:45 p.m. in Seoul and 5:45 p.m. in Canberra.

It will have foreign ministers of the three countries ― Marise Payne of Australia, Ann Linde of Sweden and Kang Kyung-wha of Korea ― plus Secretary-General Kevin Casas-Zamora of International IDEA as special guest speakers.

They will join the first of the two sessions as panelists. The participants of the second and last session will be Swedish Ambassador to Korea Jakob Hallgren, Melbourne Law School professor emeritus Cheryl Saunders, former President and distinguished Fellow of East Asia Institute Lee Sook-jong, University of Gothenburg professor Staffan Lindberg and International IDEA Director for Asia and the Pacific Leena Rikkila Tamang.

Among the issues to be discussed are the importance of the robustness of institutions, levels of societal trust and access to information when dealing with a pandemic without undermining democracy, what COVID-19 reveals of political systems, leadership and citizenry, what may be the medium ― and longer-term implications of COVID-19 on democracy.