South Korea eyes vote ban for pro-North Korea overseas residents

South Korea may ban overseas residents with pro-North Korea attitudes from taking part in national elections, officials said, a controversial move aimed at preventing Pyongyang from wielding influence over local politics.

Starting from April next year, some 2.5 million Koreans living abroad will be able to take part in the April 11 parliamentary and Dec. 19 presidential elections by registering with a South Korean embassy in their vicinity and directly casting a ballot.

Expecting that pro-Pyongyang overseas residents will try to influence politics in Korea by acquiring South Korean citizenship, the election watchdog is seeking to restrict their voting rights.

A meeting will be held Sept. 8 among related ministries to discuss measures concerning the issue, an official at the National Election Commission said.

The measures may include reforming the nationality law to apply stricter standards on people who want to achieve South Korean citizenship.

“We are concerned of the negative impact some pro-North Korean agencies may have on overseas voting,” the official said, asking not to be named until the measure becomes official.

“Giving suffrage to people who are prone to praising the North Korean regime appears to go against the Constitution. But it is also true that we cannot ban someone from casting a ballot based on his or her political or ideological tendency,” the official added.

The election watchdog believes some pro-North Korean entities such as the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan are planning to influence South Korean politics in a direction desirable to the Pyongyang regime.

Those belonging to the association, known more widely as “Chongryon,” can easily get South Korean citizenship within two to three weeks under the current nationality law. Chongryon is an organization that functions as North Korea’s de facto embassy in Japan.

Some 50,000 ethnic Koreans belonging to the association will be able to cast ballots under the scenario, wrongly influencing election results, the Seoul government believes.

“This is a serious issue that calls for proper countermeasures,” Rep. Chung Mi-kyung of the ruling Grand National Party said during a recent parliamentary session.

By Shin Hae-in (hayney@heraldcorp.com)