By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
The governing Grand National Party (GNP) has designated two naturalized Koreans as GNP candidates for local council member seats under the proportional representation system in the June 2 local elections.
The measure was made to meet the growing number of immigrants and foreign residents in the country.
The party's election committee designated Lee Yeon-wha, a naturalized woman born in Japan as a candidate in Gyeonggi Province, and another woman, identified only as Jasmin who was born in the Philippines, as a candidate in Seoul.
If appointed the two will be the first foreign-born council members in Korean politics.
A similar attempt was made during the National Assembly elections in 2008 by the minor opposition Renewal of Korea Party, which recruited one Filipino woman as a proportional representative.
However, the party failed to win the three percent of votes necessary to secure her a seat.
Rep. Nam Kyung-pil, chairman of the committee, said the measure was to reflect the changes in society where the number of foreigner residents living in the country has exceeded 1.1 million.
With President Lee Myung-bak's inauguration in February 2008, policies in favor of foreign residents in Korea have gained traction.
The government sector was among the first to embrace them, and a foreign national was named as an advisor to President Lee.
Public firms followed suit ― the Korea Tourism Organization appointed Lee Cham, a German-turned-Korean, to the top position at the organization.
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