East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta received the 2026 Internet Peace Prize at South Korea’s National Assembly on Friday, urging greater care in how people use technology and treat one another online.
“Technology must serve humanity. Humanity must never become the servant of technology,” he said in his acceptance speech. “Peace begins with how we treat one another. It begins with the words we choose, the dignity we accord to those who disagree with us, and the example we set for our children.”
The Sunfull Foundation, chaired by Min Byoung-chul, and the National Assembly’s Sunfull Committee presented the award at Sarangjae in Seoul.
Lawmakers from all sides of the aisle, ambassadors from five countries, teachers and students attended.
“President Ramos-Horta's life, in which he overcame bullets with forgiveness, shows the path that digital peace must take in the age of AI,” Min said, referring to Ramos-Horta’s response to a 2008 assassination attempt.
Ramos-Horta, a 1996 Nobel Peace laureate, also credited late Korean President Kim Dae-jung with drawing international attention to the crisis that followed East Timor’s 1999 independence referendum.
The foundation said it had discussed a proposed initiative called “Kind AI for Human Peace” with Ramos-Horta.
As part of the initiative, the foundation plans to pursue youth exchanges between Korea and East Timor, including short-term visits and joint education in artificial intelligence ethics and digital literacy.
The Sunfull Movement began in 2007 as a campaign to encourage kinder online comments. The Internet Peace Prize, established in 2018, recognizes efforts to advance human rights online and counter malicious comments and hate speech.
shwang9@heraldcorp.com
