The ruling and opposition parties are increasingly expanding their presidential election campaigns abroad as they try to attract votes of overseas citizens, who could play a key role in December's polls.
It is the first time South Koreans living abroad will be able to participate in choosing their president following a revision to the election law in 2009. The first absentee voting for overseas Koreans took place during April's parliamentary elections.
More than 2.2 million South Korean expats over the age of 19 are expected to cast ballots in the Dec. 19 vote, with about 66,200 people registered at the country's overseas missions as of Tuesday morning, according to an official at the national election watchdog.
"Overseas nationals can be divided into two groups -- permanent overseas residents and short-term visitors such as students studying abroad and those on business trips," a campaign official of the ruling Saenuri Party said, asking not to be identified. "There are views that the Saenuri Party has an overwhelming lead among permanent residents, while the (main opposition) Democratic United Party (DUP) is more popular among short-term visitors."
Saenuri has nominated Park Geun-hye, a five-term lawmaker and daughter of late President Park Chung-hee, as its presidential candidate, while the DUP has chosen Rep. Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyer with close ties to late President Roh Moo-hyun, to be its standard-bearer.
In an effort to woo overseas voters, Rep. Won Yoo-chul, head of the Saenuri Party's overseas nationals committee, and a number of other Saenuri lawmakers have been meeting Korean residents since July in countries including the United States, China and Japan.
The party is also considering a series of legal revisions and policies that will allow permanent residents to vote via mail and register as residents in their home country also, among other measures.
The opposition party, led by former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook, has been conducting its own overseas campaign.
Since mid-July, Han has met with Korean residents throughout the Americas and China, where more than 3,300 eligible Korean voters live in Shanghai alone.
"Former Prime Minister Han and other lawmakers have attended the launching ceremonies (of the party's campaign teams in each region) and asked Korean residents there to actively take part in the election regardless of who they vote for so as to expand their rights as overseas residents and keep absentee voting in place," a party official said, also asking not to be identified.
Overseas Koreans who abuse their voting rights, however, are expected to face strict immigration controls under a legal revision adopted last February.
The election watchdog said earlier in the day it has restricted passport issuance for a South Korean national living in Japan for distributing illegal handouts criticizing incumbent President Lee Myung-bak, the Saenuri Party and its presidential candidate Park during a meeting of ethnic Koreans in Tokyo in July.
The offender, whose identity was withheld, is the first person to come under the restriction, which will be in place for five years, the watchdog said. (Yonhap)
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