By Kang Hyun-kyung
The three presidential candidates, Tuesday, pledged to better protect overseas Koreans and increase educational opportunities for them ahead of the Dec. 19 election.
The visions of Reps. Park Geun-hye, Moon Jae-in and independent Ahn Cheol-soo were almost identical, drawing criticism from analysts for lacking major differences and specific details on how to attain their goals.
Speaking at a forum hosted by an institute handling issues related to overseas Koreans held at the Koreana Hotel in Seoul, Rep. Won Yoo-chul vowed to issue conditional certificates of residency to overseas Koreans who obtained permanent citizenship from their host country.
Won, who is handling overseas Koreans affairs for Rep. Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party, said these Koreans had difficulties obtaining membership of Korean Internet sites because such sites require them to input the number of their registration certificate which they don’t have.
“The Saenuri Party will issue the conditional certificate of residents for those who have permanent citizenships of foreign countries if they inform the government authorities of their migration to foreign countries before they leave the nation,” he said.
The ruling party plans to ease requirements to obtain dual citizenship by rewriting a current rule that those who are 65 or older are eligible to hold this status.
Rep. Won also vowed to allow Korean students overseas to be eligible for government scholarships and increase financial support for the education of children of overseas Koreans.
Moon Jae-in’s camp pledged to increase medical support for overseas Koreans and ease regulations on mandatory military service for children of overseas Koreans with permanent citizenship.
Rep. Kim Sung-gon of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) pledged to revise the law on military service to help young overseas Koreans become eligible for dual citizenships.
The Ahn Cheol-soo camp, meanwhile, pledged to create a government agency to handle overseas Koreans, bolster networks among them and increase more support for their education.
The three camps unveiled their vision for overseas Koreans because some 2.2 million of them are eligible to vote in the presidential election.
As of Monday, nearly one out of 10 eligible overseas Korean voters registered to cast their ballots for their preferred candidate in the election.