I had to build another life.

I grew up in a violent home in Daegu, South Korea. At 17, I left—not with money or a plan, but because I knew I had to build another life.

Since then, I have travelled the world, started and run businesses, and built a hostel from scratch. Without a conventional degree, I taught myself software engineering and worked my way to senior engineer. I did not follow a path. I kept making one.

Through every version of my life came a constant stream of questions: What makes strangers trust each other? What turns a place into a community? Why did social media make us more visible, but less together?

Berlin’s queer and techno scenes showed me what technology often forgets: people need freedom, belonging, love, and somewhere real to meet. That is why I’m building PartyX—not simply as an app, but as infrastructure for independent culture and the beginning of a movement.

The dream is to carry Berlin’s love and authenticity into the world without taking away what makes each scene its own. And one day, if peace makes it possible, to organise a techno festival in Pyongyang—not as a stunt, but as a symbol that culture can cross borders politics cannot.

Jimmy, Founder of PartyX