About election in South Korea
All about Korea
Hi! Koreopatra is back with a little bit of a political post! As you may know, South Korea had a presidential election on March 9th, and we’re having a local election on June 1st. So today, I’d like to share some information and my ideas about elections in Korea. Personally, I’m pumped to write this post since I minored in Political Science, lol.
How do we vote?
South Korea adopts a direct election system. There was a time when we adopted an indirect election system as well, but a direct election system is a result of resistance toward the dictatorship in the 1980s. (The dictatorial regime abused an indirect election system to extend their tenure.)
According to the public official election act, the presidential election must be held on the first Wednesday after D-70 to the president’s expiration date. That is because, if the election is held on another day, some people may abuse it to do personal business. Therefore, most elections here are held on Wednesday.
Any Korean citizen over 18 according to Western age can participate in the election, and on-site voting is mandatory. You have to vote at a designated polling place near your address, from 6 am to 6 pm. You must bring your ID card so the government employees can check it before you vote.
In this local election, each person gets several ballots from 4 to 7, depending on the district you live in. Most people would get 7 ballots though since a lot of districts have to fill the vacancies. You can tell the ballots apart with their colors.
The secret of the election stamp
In this picture, you may see a red thing on my hand. That is a stamp used for election here. I bet you might have thought it looks unique.
There’s a story about why we use this unique stamp. In 1948, when South Korea had an election for the first time, people could leave a wide range of marks on the ballot like “O”, “X”, “V”. Then in 1952, the government unified the mark into “O”. A bunch of stuff were used to leave an “O” mark on the ballot-even bamboo, empty cartridge, and a pen. People worried about the fraudulent election as they used different tools depending on where you are. Thus, they standardized a tool to leave the marks in 1985.
However, they had a problem. When they fold the ballot in half, the opposite side of the ballot gets stained with the ink, which confused the ballot counting group. Accordingly, in 1992, they added ‘人’ to the circle mark, which means ‘a person’ in Chinese characters. Though it caused another issue. They couldn’t distinguish the left and right of the mark, and some people insisted that it reminds them of a name of a specific presidential election candidate.
In 1994, finally, they found the finest mark. It was ‘卜’ in a circle, which means ‘fortune’ in Chinese characters. Not only does this mean “Voting is a decision made by God”, but also people could distinguish the mark clearly.
As you see on the left of the picture above, the short line in the circle should be on the right side. If the short line is on the left side as the one on the right, it is regarded as an invalid mark.
Election Manifesto
When the election date gets close, thick mail would be sent to every house. If you open it, you will see a bunch of election manifestos. The bigger the party is, the fancier the manifesto looks. Candidates from the big parties make a booklet filled with many pledges in color, while some candidates make a flyer with a few pledges in black and white.
In the past, in South Korea, pledges did not function as public promises that everyone expects to be realized. It was more like a slogan to attract the voters, for which politicians didn’t have to be responsible. Why did this happen? They didn’t have to keep the promises thanks to the regionalism, which is the basis of Korean politics. Especially in Korea, the bond based on the nepotism is really strong, and some political incidents in South Korea made it worse. As a result, people didn’t hesitate to vote for the party related to their hometown, although they didn’t promise anything for them.
- Lee Chong Chon(2008), A Study on the problems of a Manifesto-Based Election in South Korea, Chonnam National University Graduate School, p.30–32
In this respect, the introduction of the manifesto election in 2006 was a new challenge to South Korean society. People tried to get rid of chronic nepotism in Korean politics by using pledges as the official promises, and for the first time, they started voting for those who make better pledges. In addition, this manifesto system functions as a measure of party credibility, by checking how many pledges they realize.
Still, there are a ton of issues on nepotism in elections here, and many politicians get attention through nepotist speech. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t deny that the manifesto system has contributed to the growth of democracy in Korea, considering more and more people check the manifestos compared to the past.
Ballot counting broadcast
During the election season in Korea, you’ll see people talking about ‘ballot-counting broadcast’ everywhere. Broadcasting systems make ballot-counting broadcasts with fancy graphic skills and trendy background songs so people don’t get bored.
Korea had had ballot-counting broadcasts for a long time, but the ones like this video began in 2012. In April, SBS used a 3D animation technique for the local election ballot counting show for the first time, which became a big issue. Since then, a wide range of broadcasting systems are making efforts to make creative ballot-counting shows. As the media market is getting competitive, it’s getting harder for broadcasting systems to get commercials. Therefore, making funny ballot-counting shows and getting a spotlight is a good way for them to attract advertisers.
My boyfriend Brady was surprised by these broadcasts as they don’t have something like this in America, which was interesting. I personally think this can be a good way to appeal to young people. Even though they were not interested in politics, I bet they wouldn’t mind watching Joe Biden dancing on Next Level, lol.
What I want in this election is…
These days, I have seen so many politicians triggering conflicts on purpose for their benefit. Actually, that’s what they have done for a lifetime, but it’s getting worse. On that account, I wish candidates who care about social integration and practical solutions for social problems to be elected in this election. Politicians’ job is to represent people, not to fill their pockets.
The foundation spirit of Korea is “홍익인간(Hong-ik-in-gan)”. It means “Be widely beneficial to people”. I believe the essence of politics is the same way. Politics is a way to give a better life to each person. Consequently, we should stop the politics of “frame” to attack other people and replace it with “flame” to light a better world.
Thanks for reading my post! What is your idea on the Korean election system?
Share your idea in the comments!
Originally published at https://ariellelim.substack.com on May 29, 2022.
