Foreign residents want better support and equity from new Seoul mayor
Foreign residents participate in a mock poll at a multicultural family support center in Busan, April 16, 2018, ahead of the nationwide local elections, which were held on June 13, 2018. Korea Times fileBy Lee Hyo-jin Foreign residents in Seoul, including eligible immigrant voters of the mayoral by-election, shared various expectations from the new mayor on making the capital a more foreigner-friendly city. As foreign nationals who have been in the country for over three years after obtaining permanent residency are given the right to vote in local elections, 38,126 foreign residents in Seoul were eligible to cast their votes in the election, according to the National Election Committee (NEC). “The amount of the city budget allocated to programs supporting foreigners has declined in the past three years so I hope to see that decline arrested by the new mayor,” said Paul Carver from the United Kingdom, 44, who works here as an accountant. He was the head of the Seoul Global Center, an organization established to support foreign residents in the capital, between 2016 and 20
Apr 7, 2021By Lee Hyo-jin