I am an editorial writer at The Korea Times, focusing on foreign policy, North Korea and domestic politics. My key areas of interest include North Korea, foreign interference in elections, election integrity, cyberattacks and human rights. Prior to joining the Editorial Board, I served as both Politics Desk editor and Culture Desk editor. During my career, I have reported on the Presidential Office under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly.
Korean Americans differ over Dec. 19 election
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Edward Chang Steven Choi
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Just like at home, a generational divide among Koreans residing in America has been spotted ahead of absentee voting in the tight presidential race between Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in, according to experts.
“I think there is a generational breakdown. Older folks are definitely more supportive of Park while the younger seem to back Moon,” Korean American lawyer Steven Choi told The Korea Times on Saturday.
Choi, also executive director of the New York-based grassroots advocacy group Minkwon Center for Community Action, said that a lot of Korean Americans, regardless of whether they are eligible voters or not, have watched the Korean presidential campaigns with great interest.
“For overseas Koreans in America, the presidential election and their rights as overseas voters are a very big topic that a lot of people are talking about. They have greater interest in what implication policies will have for overseas Korean voters including their connection to their home country.”
Registered overseas Korean voters will go to polling stations set up in either Korean embassies or consulates in the nearest location for six days from Wednesday. Korean residents in America take the lion’s share of some 2.2 million eligible overseas voters. Among them, approximately 220,000 across the world registered to cast their ballots in the presidential election.
Voting rights for citizens abroad was granted from the April 11 National Assembly elections. At that time, some 120,000 registered but just half of them actually casted ballots.
Edward T. Chang, professor and director of the Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies at the University of California at Riverside, said a heated presidential election debate is underway among Korean Americans on the West Coast as well.
“The presidential poll draws more interest than the National Assembly elections. The registration of overseas Koreans has gone up. Whether it will translate into an actual voting rate remains to be seen, though,” he said.
The political scientist also observed a divide between elderly Korean Americans and their young counterparts regarding their political orientations.
“There are different trends among Koreans living in the United States. Those Korean immigrants who have been in the United States a long time ago tend to be more conservative, whereas younger students or those staying in the United States temporarily tend to be more liberal and supportive of the Democratic United Party,” he said.
Chang also pointed out that older Koreans are avid watchers of Korean politics.
“Many elderly in the Korean population are interested in Korean politics and yet they are not eligible because they are American citizens.”
Setback
The two experts said insufficient campaign materials and the long distance from where they live and the polling stations make it difficult for overseas Koreans to actually exercise their right to pick the new president.
Choi pointed out that overseas voters were not given sufficient details that can help them compare candidates and their visions on major policy areas.
“There still needs to be more information given by the Korean government about different candidates, about their policies and how they are going to affect overseas Koreans, too,” the Harvard graduate said.
He said many Korean Americans find it difficult to go to polling stations in person because depending on where they live, people usually have to drive for six to eight hours to reach the nearest polling station and then return home.
“What happened after the first election (the parliamentary elections in April), there was so much disillusionment about the difficulty of voting and you saw that the turnout rate was remarkably low. You are still dealing with the fallout that a lot of people are still kind of disillusioned after the first time. It’s a hurdle for people to overcome and so this time I am going to take some time to do this and I want to have an impact after remembering how hard it was first time.
“If the mechanism sends a way in which you can participate is done well you will see a marked increase (in voter turnout).”