[koreaherald] Momentum builds for overseas Koreans' suffrage

Momentum builds for overseas Koreans' suffrage 
 

 2007년 04월 24일 (화)  koreaherald  
 
 
Korea is gearing up for a major stride in advancing representative democracy as lawmakers push to grant millions of overseas Koreans the right to vote in domestic elections for the first time in 35 years.
Two major political parties - the conservative Grand National Party and the liberal Uri Party - have submitted separate draft revisions to the election law to enfranchise Korean nationals living abroad. Minor parties are set to field their own proposals soon.

Election authorities and overseas Korean missions are also working out measures to cope with the legal and technical complications that those new groups of electorate could bring about.

If enacted early enough, a revision would significantly affect the result of the December presidential election by making at least 1.15 million more people eligible to vote.

In 2002, candidate Roh Moo-hyun won the election by a margin of about 500,000.

But enactment faces an uphill battle. The public is sharply divided over whether their overseas compatriots, many of whom are exempt from the civil duties of tax and military service and are widely indifferent to domestic policies, should be represented in elections.

Political parties are in consensus that Koreans temporarily staying overseas be given suffrage. But they still differ over whether permanent residents should be given the right.

Korea is among a few advanced countries that disfranchises its overseas citizens.

Exceptional cases occurred in 1967 to 1971, when Park Chung-hee, the military general-turned-president, allowed troops dispatched to the Vietnam War to cast ballots in four presidential and parliamentary elections. In 1972, the Park administration scrapped the right as an increasing number of overseas Koreans turned critical toward his dictatorial rule and extended presidency.

Currently, five related bills are pending in the National Assembly to revise the 35-year-old restriction of their rights.

Rep. Kim Sung-gon of the Uri Party submitted a revision bill in October 2006. Most recently, Rep. Kim Deog-ryong of the GNP made a similar proposal in February.

The GNP bill proposes giving the right to vote to some 2.85 million Korean nationals abroad, including permanent residents.

The Uri Party suggested suffrage be limited in its initial stage to short-term overseas residents, currently numbering around 1.15 million, such as students, diplomats, soldiers and dispatched corporate employees, and then gradually expanded to permanent residents.

Their different stances reflect their partisan interests, experts say. The liberal Uri Party in general has more supporters among young voters while long-term overseas residents tend to be supportive of the GNP's conservative policies.

The partisan disparity was highlighted during a National Assembly forum last week organized by key promoters of the legislation.

Party leaders and three presidential aspirants - former GNP Chairwoman Park Geun-hye, second-term GNP lawmaker Won Hee-ryong and former Uri Chairman Kim Geun-tae - attended the hearing in a show of support.

GNP Chairman Kang Jae-seop told the forum that the government has so far been indifferent to its citizens abroad and stressed the urgent need to include all of them in the revision.

Uri Chairman Chung Sye-kyun expressed caution on the extended suffrage. He said parties must consider the feasibility matter because there is not enough time for the revision to pass the Assembly and take effect.

"In politics, if the best policy is practically unachievable, we should go for the second-best plan to realize what's possible at that moment," he said.

Election officials and lawmakers said if overseas Koreans are to be allowed to cast ballots in the December presidential poll, the amendment of the election law should be made within the first half of the year.

But a National Election Commission official said that the bill should be passed this month at the latest for the panel to be able to prepare for the overseas absentee voting. The preparation will take at least six months though the required period will vary depending on the number of voters, their regions, and voting methods - for example mail or internet.

He noted that it took two years for Japan to set up a voting system for its 700,000 overseas nationals.

The election watchdog estimated some 8.59 billion won ($9.3 million) will be needed for the change, assuming that 1.03 million overseas Koreans are eligible voters and 50 percent of them register for absentee.

An NEC official who requested anonymity said that overseas absentee voting will likely cost more than three times the domestic election cost spent per person. The cost will vary greatly depending on the level of revision, the official added.

The Alliance for Suffrage for Overseas Koreans, a lobby group, criticized lawmakers, saying they are making "political considerations" because the inclusion of allegedly conservative overseas Koreans could have a sizable impact on the election result.

"It runs counter to the spirit of the Constitution if they make a decision (on the bill) simply based on whether it will benefit their party," said the alliance in a written statement at its opening ceremony on April 17.

The alliance demands suffrage for all Korean citizens abroad.

"Dividing overseas Koreans into short-term and long-term residents could create a new conflict in overseas Korean communities," said Kim Gil-nam, former president of the Federation of Korean Association in the United States, who participated in the discussion.

However, not all people agree that overseas Koreans should be allowed to vote.

Kim Soo-il, professor at Pusan University of Foreign Studies, said granting voting rights to overseas Koreans could highlight Korean citizens' taxation and military service responsibilities that people overseas don't face.

Regarding those concerns, Rep. Kim Deog-ryong said, "Suffrage is not something that can only be given to those who completed all their duties to the nation." He noted that only 10.5 million of 27 million eligible voters in Korea paid their due tax in 2005 and that those who live overseas still have to pay taxes if they have a source of revenue in Korea.

Another problem lies in that it is "virtually impossible" to find those who hold dual citizenship, Rep. Kim Sung-gon said. He also pointed out that only 30 percent of Korean citizens in the United States are registered with the Korean government as permanent overseas residents, saying such problems would disable direct and secret balloting.

The Uri lawmaker said that in order to expand suffrage to all overseas Koreans, there must be additional measures to address the issue of "Jochongnyeon," the pro-North Korean residents' league in Japan, and North Korean refugees, both of whom are deemed South Korean by law.

Following the public hearing, another GNP lawmaker, Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, said he would seek to revise the election law for overseas absentee voting. Kim said that Koreans studying or working abroad as well as Korean residents in foreign countries should be allowed to register with the Korean overseas missions as absentee voters for presidential and general elections.

Korea, along with Turkey, is among the few countries in the world that do not guarantee overseas nationals the right to absentee voting.

According to the National Election Commission, as of June 2006, a total of 92 countries worldwide had the absentee voting system for overseas nationals. The United States, for example, has allowed absentee voting since 1955 for military service members and federal employees living outside U.S. territory. In 1975, the U.S. Congress passed the Overseas Citizens Voting Rights Act to expand absentee voting. In other cases, France set up a proxy voting system for its overseas troops and public servants in 1945 and expanded it to the general public in 1976, while Japan is set to implement full-scale absentee voting.

By Ahn Hyo-lim
(iamhyol@heraldm.com)
2007.04.24