Ministry of Overseas Koreans Urges Real Protection of Overseas Voting Rights... Calls for Introduction of Mail-in and Electronic Voting

"Decision Needed in the National Assembly"
Plan to Implement Starting with the 2028 General Elections

Ministry of Overseas Koreans’ 2027 Budget Set at 136.9 Billion Won

A 21% Increase Compared to This Year

Kim Kyung-Hyup, Minister for Overseas Koreans, has emphasized the need to introduce postal and electronic voting to effectively guarantee the voting rights of overseas citizens. He projected that if the relevant amendments to the Public Official Election Act are enacted within this year, following the establishment and testing of the system, it could be implemented starting with the 2028 general election.

Kim Kyung-Hyup, Minister for Overseas Koreans, is reporting at the government ministry briefing presided over by President Lee Jae-myung at the Blue House State Guesthouse on the 5th of last month. Photo by Yonhap News

At a briefing held on the 3rd at the Seoul Government Complex, Minister Kim stated, "The voting rights of overseas citizens should not be guaranteed merely in a legal or formal sense, but must be substantively guaranteed." He added, "We need to actively consider introducing postal voting or electronic voting to ensure that overseas citizens can exercise their voting rights in a more stable manner."

Minister Kim further explained, "The National Assembly needs to reach a conclusion to some extent within this year," and noted, "It is expected that the National Election Commission could take about a year to build and test the system next year." He added, "I believe it could then be implemented in the 2028 general election."

Currently, several proposed amendments to the Public Official Election Act are pending in the National Assembly, including bills to introduce postal voting in overseas elections and to provide a legal basis for the implementation of electronic voting and vote counting. The Ministry for Overseas Koreans (MOK) held a forum on overseas election reform at the National Assembly on March 20, and for the first time raised the issue of postal and electronic voting at the Special Committee on Political Reform in April, but bipartisan consensus has not been reached thus far.

According to the Ministry, out of the total 7 million overseas Koreans, approximately 2.4 million hold South Korean nationality. Of these, the number of eligible voters is estimated at about 2 million. Under the current overseas election system, voters must visit designated overseas missions in person, which often requires long-distance travel depending on their place of residence—a persistent issue. Concerns have also been raised regarding fairness and security in the introduction of postal and electronic voting. The National Election Commission remains cautious about postal voting due to the risk of false or proxy registrations and differences in national postal systems, and about electronic voting because of variations in telecommunications infrastructure and hacking risks across countries.

However, Minister Kim emphasized, "Absentee voting within Korea is already conducted by mail, and Korean crew members on deep-sea fishing vessels vote by fax while at sea. Electronic voting is also used by political parties to elect party leadership and public office candidates through mobile voting." He continued, "There are no technical barriers remaining. Only a decision by the National Assembly is needed now." He expressed his hope that "in this regular session of the National Assembly, a decisive move will be made to guarantee the voting rights of all 7 million overseas Koreans, and in particular, the 2 million overseas Korean voters."

Meanwhile, the budget proposal for the Ministry for Overseas Koreans for 2027 has been set at 136.9 billion won, an increase of 24.2 billion won (21.4%) from this year’s 112.7 billion won. This is the largest increase since its establishment in 2023. In particular, the budget for strengthening Korean language schools will rise by 6 billion won (30.3%) from 19.5 billion won this year to 25.5 billion won next year. The Ministry projects that the government support rate for the 1,472 Korean language schools worldwide will rise from an average of about 26% to around 30%. The Ministry aims to eventually raise the support rate to as much as 50% over the medium to long term.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.