---
title: People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD)
type: ngo
status: active
country: KR
website: https://www.peoplepower21.org
logo: /assets/org-logos/pspd.svg
contact:
  checked: 2026-08-09
  form: https://www.peoplepower21.org/contact
  source: https://www.peoplepower21.org
summary: A major South Korean civil society organisation founded in 1994 — a pillar
  of Korean democratic accountability with ~13,000 members, monitoring the judiciary,
  legislature, and executive, and driving public-interest law, economic justice, and
  peace advocacy.
concepts:
- democracy
- deliberative-democracy
- radical-transparency
location:
  latitude: 37.5665
  longitude: 126.978
  name: Seoul, South Korea
  precision: city
events:
- date: '1994-09-10'
  title: Founded with ~200 members in Seoul as People's Solidarity for Participatory
    Democracy
  url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Solidarity_for_Participatory_Democracy
  quote: was established on 10 September 1994 with around 200 members
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-10'
  notable: true
- date: '2004-01-01'
  title: Obtains UN ECOSOC special consultative status
  url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Solidarity_for_Participatory_Democracy
  quote: PSPD obtained a special consultative status with the UN ECOSOC
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-10'
  notable: false
- date: '2026-08-07'
  title: Launches Civil Society Joint Action for Strengthening Accountability and
  url: https://peoplepower21.org/English
  quote: Launch of ‘Civil Society Joint Action for Strengthening Accountability and
    Public Interest in AI’
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-12'
  notable: false
activity:
  dod:
    checked: 2026-08-09
    date: 2026-08-09
    note: Confirmed live (HTTP 200), site current
last_checked: '2026-08-09'
---

People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD, 참여연대) was founded in 1994 and has grown into one of South Korea's most influential civil society institutions, with approximately 13,000 members and UN ECOSOC consultative status. The organisation describes its mission as monitoring power (legislative, judicial, executive), proposing alternatives, and organising participation and solidarity — treating watchdog, think-tank, and movement-building functions as interdependent rather than separate activities.

PSPD operates through dedicated centres: judicial monitoring (tracking judicial appointments, prosecutorial accountability, publishing a database of cases and disciplinary records), legislative watchdog work (monitoring the National Assembly), public interest law, administrative oversight, economic and tax reform, labour and social welfare, peace and disarmament, and international solidarity. In August 2026, PSPD launched the "Civil Society Joint Action for Strengthening Accountability and Public Interest in AI" — an example of the organisation extending its accountability framework to emerging technological governance challenges.

PSPD is funded entirely by member dues (no government funding), with over 25,000 members — an independence model that gives it unusual credibility in a political environment where government-funded NGOs face questions about co-optation.

South Korea's broader participatory infrastructure — mandatory participatory budgeting, national deliberative assemblies, and large-scale digital petitions — makes it one of the world's densest participatory governance ecosystems. PSPD is a central node in that ecosystem: not a deliberative practitioner in the narrow sense (it doesn't run citizens' assemblies), but the accountability infrastructure that makes deliberative governance meaningful rather than performative.

## Links

- Website: [peoplepower21.org](https://www.peoplepower21.org)

## See also

- [Democracy](../concepts/democracy.md)
- [Deliberative Democracy](../concepts/deliberative-democracy.md)
- [Radical Transparency](../concepts/radical-transparency.md)