Right-wing lawmaker proposes bills to reduce foreign nationals' voting rights

A bill package seeking to impose tighter restrictions on foreign nationals voting in local elections was proposed Tuesday by an opposition lawmaker, in a move the lawmaker says will help prevent "voters' intentions being distorted."

The proposed revisions, backed by People Power Party's Rep. Kim Eun-hye, would raise the minimum period of permanent residency needed for foreign nationals to vote from three years to five years. They would also have to prove they had actually lived in South Korea for at least two years.

Kim's revision proposal also includes a so-called "reciprocity principle" that would ban foreigners' from voting if their country of origin does not allow non-citizens to vote. According to Kim, South Korean permanent residents in the United States, China and Japan cannot participate in elections there. However, no restrictions are currently in place concerning nationality in South Korea.

The number of eligible foreign voters in local elections has grown sharply, though foreign nationals cannot vote in presidential or general elections.

According to election authorities' estimates compiled by Kim's office, 154,559 foreign nationals are eligible to vote in this year's local elections, up 20 percent in four years, and up threefold in 12 years.

According to the main opposition party, over 80 percent of foreign nationals with voting rights are Chinese.

During a parliamentary meeting in January, Heo Cheol-hoon, secretary general of the National Election Committee, said it was difficult to verify if foreign nationals were actually living in Korea.

Regarding the comment, Kim said granting foreign nationals the right to vote in local elections without cross-checking whether they actually reside in the region "undermines the core of local autonomy" in South Korea.

Kim's move would involve revising four laws: The Public Official Election Act, the Local Autonomy Act, the Recall of Elected Officials Act and the Act on Resident Initiative. Failure to pass her revision bills would lead to "reverse-discrimination against South Korean citizens with voting rights," she said.