[koreaherald ]'Voting rights belong to all citizens'

 

 2007년 04월 22일 (일)  koreaherald  
 
 
In 1997, Kim Je-wan, a Paris-based journalist, published an article delving into overseas Koreans' deprived voting rights for elections taking place in their homeland.
"I never realized that it was the first-ever newspaper article covering the topic," Kim said. Nor did he imagine the story would generate repercussions among his compatriots worldwide that would eventually spark a campaign now uniting millions of Koreans living outside the country.

The article appeared in Oniva, a Korean community newspaper circulating in France. Kim is the founder and publisher of the newspaper, whose name comes from the French "On y va," meaning "Let's go." He is also the publisher of To World 21, an online news outlet for overseas Koreans around the world.

Last week, Kim and other leaders of Korean communities launched the Alliance for Suffrage for Overseas Koreans in Seoul along with their domestic supporters including influential scholars, journalists, and civil society leaders.

The group will conduct lobbying activities and stage a public campaign to revise the election law to permit absentee voting for overseas Korean nationals. Asked about the biggest obstacle facing the campaign, Kim, director-general of the alliance, said it is, simply, indifference.

"Not many people are outright against giving voting rights to overseas Koreans. But even among overseas Koreans, there are those who are not interested in the issue."

Thirty-five years have passed since the Park Chung-hee administration amended the election law, depriving overseas Korean citizens of the right to cast an absentee ballot in Korean elections.

"For the past decades, (overseas Koreans) have been busy earning a living day by day while Korean society has been going through rapid political and economic changes. Koreans didn't have time to take care of their overseas compatriots. Now it's time to think."

Kim stressed that lawmakers should not base their decision on whether a revision of the election law would benefit their party.

"There are five bills (on election law revision) and both the Democratic Labor Party and the Democratic Party are preparing related bills. The National Assembly is well aware of the fact that the revision is necessary. People get shocked when they learn that neither Korea's Zaytun troops nor the ambassador to the United States can vote in domestic elections."

"The problem is that political parties are fighting over whether to give suffrage to all overseas Koreans including those who have gained permanent resident status."

Noting that the combined 2.8 million votes from overseas Koreans can have a huge impact on the upcoming presidential election, Kim said parties have a good reason to be afraid of the revision.

Nevertheless, that does not justify their foot-dragging, he said. "If you think about it, Koreans living in Japan have never been allowed to vote for four generations, whether in Japan or Korea. They identify their nationality with identity. Nowadays more than 10,000 Koreans go through the naturalization process each year to receive Japanese citizenship. (The Korean government) should give them voting rights, instead of aggravating the situation."

Kim also criticized the Constitutional Court for delaying a ruling on a petition filed in 2005 by Koreans living in North America.

"(The court) is neglecting its duty. The court said it would rule on May 10. If it delays the ruling again until after June, the court wouldn't have any other excuse but that they were lazy and indifferent."

Another problem lies with Korea's resident registration system, according to Kim. The National Election Commission draws up the lists of voters using resident registration numbers, which is another reason that the overseas absentee voting seems "not so feasible" to policymakers, he said. Kim underscored that voting rights belong to all citizens and that it is absurd to say those without a valid resident registration number do not qualify as eligible voters.

"The resident registration system is unique to Korea. It was established in the 1960s to keep people under government control. That's why this dispute on voting rights exists uniquely in Korea."

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