피스코드 PeaceCode.net

about “KWEON, Ohyeon” /kwən, ohyən/

Building Korea’s Digital Agora for Civic Dialogue and Action.
Public-interest technology and digital commons for peaceful lives and a peaceful world.

Beyond openness and connection, accumulation and automation—through technologies of trust and cooperation, of sharing and liberation—I build platforms and collectives that help good people and citizens contribute to democracy, the commons, and peace. My hope is that free and joyful individuals, trusting and cooperating with one another, can build abundant and sustainable communities, and live peaceful lives in a peaceful world.

I currently work at Parti Cooperative and Code for Korea.

Current Roles

– Chair, Parti Cooperative (2015–present)
– Organizer, Code for Korea (2020–present)
– Member, AI Democracy Division, Presidential Council on National Artificial Intelligence Strategy
– Advisor on Social and Solidarity Economy, Ministry of the Interior and Safety of Korea

Biography

Ohyeon Kweon has spent two decades building digital public squares in Korea—platforms, tools, and communities where citizens dialogue, deliberate, and act together.

In the 2000s, as a product manager and engineering lead at Daum Communications, he helped build Agora, the largest online public square of its era in Korea, which became the backbone of citizen mobilization during the 2008 candlelight protests. He also led development for Tistory and Daum View (Bloggernews), shaping the foundations of Korea’s citizen media ecosystem.

In 2012, as a member of Code Namu (Code Tree), one of Korea’s pioneering civic-hacking communities, he led the development of Ansim Hospital (later renamed Ansim-i)—one of Korea’s first civic hacking projects. In 2013, he founded UFOfactory, a social enterprise that partnered with over 1,200 nonprofit organizations to build their digital infrastructure. UFOfactory later merged with Slowalk, where he served as CEO and incubated Stibee, now Korea’s leading nonprofit email platform.

In 2015, he founded Parti, a social cooperative dedicated to digital democracy. Parti is a digital agora for civic dialogue and action—a public square for the digital age, led by its crew members and supported by citizens. The cooperative form was itself a choice: for a public square to remain beyond the reach of capital or any government, citizens must own it directly.

Parti’s work centers on two interconnected missions. The first is sustaining the digital citizens’ commons where civic life happens: Campaigns.do, Korea’s leading platform for citizen campaigning, fact-checking, and collective action; Mixon, an appropriate-technology platform that lets nonprofits and cooperatives build their own participatory spaces; and Galaxy Vote, Star Talk, and Korea Talks, independently developed dialogue tools that visualize opinion landscapes and match citizens across differences for one-to-one dialogue. The second is building governance solutions that connect citizens to decision-making: DemosX, a citizen-government collaboration platform that powers Democracy Seoul, Gwanghwamun 1st Avenue, and the Presidential Committee for National Cohesion’s public engagement platform, enabling the full pipeline from citizen proposal to deliberation to policy; and Townhall, a large-scale online voting and deliberation platform used for participatory budgeting and citizen assemblies.

These platforms are grounded in practice. For over a decade, Parti has convened up to twenty offline deliberations, living labs, and civic workshops every month—more than 215 documented public forums reaching 56,620 direct participants, while 5.4 million citizens have engaged across Parti’s digital platforms. Every tool Parti built was shaped by what was first learned in real rooms with real citizens.

In 2019, he was among the co-organizers of Facing the Ocean (FTO), a civic tech network connecting hackers and activists across Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. In 2020, as an organizer at Code for Korea, he proposed and led the Mask App and Personal Safety Number projects—Korea’s most internationally recognized civic tech responses to COVID-19, for which Code for Korea received the Minister’s Award from Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT. He has also served as co-chair of the FactCheck.net Foundation (2021–2023), Korea’s first crowdsourced fact-checking platform, and as CPO of alookso.

Today, he serves on Korea’s Presidential Council on National Artificial Intelligence Strategy as a member of its AI Democracy Division, and as an advisor to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on social and solidarity economy. He is also a board member of the Korean Association for Policy Studies, the Korean Society for Journalism and Communication Studies, and the Changbi Foundation for Culture, bridging civic practice with academic and cultural leadership. Both Parti Cooperative and Kweon himself have received Presidential Commendations from the Government of Korea—Kweon in 2021 for civic technology contributions during the COVID-19 response, and Parti in 2026 for advancing digital civic infrastructure. Parti’s work has been recognized across Korean society—by government, civil society, labor, media, the social economy, academia, and international networks—a breadth that reflects its identity as a digital agora belonging to all citizens.

Across every chapter of his work, one conviction has remained constant: the digital public square should belong to citizens—not to capital or governments. That is what he has built, and what he continues to build.

Awards & Recognition

Parti and Kweon Ohyeon have been recognized across Korean society—by government, civil society, labor, media, the social economy, and international networks. This breadth of recognition reflects Parti’s identity as a digital agora that belongs to all citizens.

  • From the Government of Korea
    • 2026 — Presidential Commendation, ICT Service Merit Award (Parti Cooperative)
    • 2021 — Presidential Commendation, Government Performance Evaluation (individual)
    • 2020 — Ministerial Award (Ministry of Science and ICT), 1st iNews24 Social DNA Innovation Awards (Code for Korea, for the COVID-19 Mask App and Personal Safety Number projects)
  • From Civil Society and the Democracy Movement
    • 2026 — Special Prize, 7th Roh Hoe-chan Award
    • 2023 — Encouragement Prize, Korea Democracy Awards (Korea Democracy Foundation)
  • From Labor
    • 2025 — Public Interest Award, Korean Government Employees’ Union
  • From Media and Journalism
    • 2025 — Open Data Special Prize, 8th Korea Data Journalism Awards
  • From the Social Economy and Innovation Communities
    • 2023 — Outstanding Social Economy Enterprise Award (Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency & Amazon Web Services)
    • 2021 — Outstanding Award, 3rd Korea Social Innovation Changemakers
  • From the Technology and Design Communities
    • 2025 — Civic Tech Award, Human Technology Awards
    • 2019 — iF Design Award, Service Design Category (Democracy Seoul)
    • 2018 — Grand Prize, Special Category, Human Technology Awards
  • From International Networks
    • 2024 — Global Fact-checking Fund Build Grant Recipient, International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)
    • 2021 — Korean Civil Society Delegate, OGP Global Summit (Seoul)

Public Service Appointments

  • Current
    • Presidential Council on National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, Member, AI Democracy Division
    • Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Advisor, Social and Solidarity Economy Civilian Advisory Group
    • Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Member, Policy Advisory Committee, Civic Innovation Division
    • Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, Member, Policy Advisory Committee (AI subdivision)
    • Korean Association for Policy Studies, Board Member
    • Changbi Foundation for Culture, Board Member
  • Former
    • Civilian Member, 3rd Korea Open Government Committee
    • Civilian Member, 1st 2050 Carbon Neutrality Committee (Citizen Participation Division)
    • Civilian Member, 4th Civil Society Development Committee (Presidential Decree)
    • Expert Committee Member, Presidential Committee on Jobs (Social Economy)
    • Member, Government Innovation Promotion Council
    • Member, LH Public Empathy Committee
    • Member, 1st Data-Based Administration Activation Committee
    • Working Member, 4th Public Data Strategy Committee
    • Member, Digital Inclusion Forum
    • Principal (1st & 2nd), AYARF (Asia Young Activist & Researcher Forum)
  • Additional Affiliations
    • Board Member, World-Changing Dreams (NGO)
    • Board Member, Korean Society for Journalism and Communication Studies

Career History

  • 2015–present | Chair, Parti Cooperative
    • Project Director, Democracy Seoul, Seoul Metropolitan Government 2020–present
    • CPO, alookso (concurrent, 2021)
    • Co-Chair, FactCheck.net Foundation (concurrent, 2021–2023)
  • 2020-present | Founder & Organizer, Code for Korea
  • 2013–2020 | Founder & CEO, UFOfactory (social enterprise; merged with Slowalk, served as CEO of the merged entity)
  • 2011–2012 | Digital Business Development Team, Cheil Worldwide
  • 2006–2010 | Product Manager & Engineering Lead, Daum Communications
  • 2004–2005 | Software Engineer, Daewoo Information Systems

Selected Writing

Academic journals, books, and conference papers. More writing at peacecode.net.

Interviews & Press

Key Milestones

  • 2020s
    • 2024 Strengthened Parti Solutions: Mixon, Townhall, and the revival of UFOfactory. Developed Parti Citizens services: CitizenPass, Campaigns.do, DemosX, and Data Trust.
    • 2023 Co-organized FTO (Facing the Ocean) Jeju. Slowalk exit.
    • 2022 Parti’s Butter Knife Crew and “Even So, We”; expanded Campaigns.do.
    • 2021 CPO at alookso. OGP Global Summit. Member of the Carbon Neutrality Committee and the Civil Society Development Committee.
    • 2021–2023 Founded FactCheck.net—developed Korea’s first citizen-participatory fact-checking model, platform, and operations.
    • 2020 Parti Citizen Data Lab. Code for Korea: Mask App and Personal Safety Number development.
  • 2010s
    • 2019 FTO (Facing the Ocean) Okinawa and Tainan—a gathering of civic hackers from Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
    • 2019 Founded Parti Social Cooperative; Parti Ltd. donated to and merged into the cooperative.
    • 2017–2019 Lead planner of Democracy Seoul. Developed DemosX, a citizen-government collaboration platform model.
    • 2015–2019 After UFOfactory–Slowalk merger, served as CEO; spun off Stibee. Partnered with over 1,200 public-interest institutions in Korea.
    • 2016 Parti GovCraft prototyping. Civic political platform experiments including “I Need to Know,” “National Assembly TalkTalk,” and Cosmos Party.
    • 2015 Founded Parti Ltd. Prototyped democracy platforms including Canoe and Townhall.
    • 2013 Founded UFOfactory—a social enterprise specializing in technology for nonprofits and social innovation.
    • 2012 Code Namu—built Ansim Hospital (later Ansim-i), one of Korea’s first civic hacking projects.
    • 2012 Cheil Worldwide—planned mobile and social advertising platforms.
  • 2000s
    • Daum Communications—planning, development, and operations for Agora, Daum View (Bloggernews), Tistory, and more.
    • Daewoo Information Systems—operated procurement and sales systems; led the procurement domain of the next-generation GWIS project.
    • Democratic Labor Party Busan branch—member of the Electronic Party Committee; early sysop of MinJiNe; planned and developed Pangari, a general election response platform.

Contact

  • Email: rest515@parti.coop / rest515@gmail.com
  • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ohyeon-kweon
  • Twitter/X: @rest515
  • Blog: peacecode.net
  • Parti: parti.coop
  • Code for Korea: codefor.kr