The six-day overseas referendum closed. The final turnout was 62.8%, the highest

The six-day overseas referendum closed. The final turnout was 62.8%, the highest ever in the general election.

Just wanted to explain what this figure means (because I don't think I'll get the hang of it unless I'm a foreigner like myself).

Let's start by explaining the terminology.

In the past, Koreans living abroad used to be called 'Korean' (僑胞), but these days they don't use it.

"Gyo" (僑) was used in the late Qing Dynasty to mean that Chinese people who live more prosperous in other countries. Chinese 僑, which we are familiar with, is exactly what it means.

A consensus has been formed that "Koreans" are more appropriate to refer to the Korean people with the same roots, even though they borrowed them and called them overseas Koreans. However, ethnic Koreans and Koreans have been more widely used for a long time.

In general, ethnic Koreans were a term referring to people who gave up Korean nationality and acquired the nationality of their country of residence, and Koreans who received permanent residency in their country of residence but maintained Korean nationality.

It was not used clearly, but it roughly mixed Koreans, ethnic Koreans, and Koreans.

These days, the official term is overseas Koreans. Overseas Koreans sound better.

Overseas Koreans are divided into 1) (who gave up Korean nationality and acquired the nationality of the country of residence), and 2) (who received permanent residency in the country of residence but maintains Korean nationality).

"As of 2013, the total number of overseas Koreans was counted as about 7.08 million. Of these, 1) the number of Koreans with foreign nationality is about 4.61 million, and 2) the number of foreigners is about 2.47 million.

But who are overseas and have the qualifications/rights to vote in Korea's presidential and parliamentary elections? Of course, they are foreign nationals.

Since you maintain your Korean nationality, you will have a resident registration in Korea, so you can vote even if you are staying abroad.

In the past, Korean society was quite poor, so if you were abroad during the election period, you would not be given the right to vote cheekily. However, from the 19th general election in 2012, overseas referendum was first introduced with the aim of guaranteeing the right to vote even if you are abroad.

In terms of parliamentary elections alone, the 19th, 20th, 21st, and the 22nd general elections. There were four overseas elections.

There are 2.47 million overseas Koreans, so even if only 10% of them vote, it will be a big variable in the election result. I can do it, but that's not the case.

In Korea, all voters are listed on the voter list at election age, but since they are foreign countries, they can only vote if they are registered as voters.

This is called an overseas absentee report, and you must apply by mail to the embassy or consulate or register online from the NEC website 150 days before the election and 60 days before.

Then, the list of overseas voters will be confirmed 30 days before the election. Only those who enter this list will go to the embassy and consulate to vote.

Now I'm curious about the number of overseas Koreans who registered as voters to vote in this general election.

Of the 2.47 million, about 148,000 people registered.

Did 148,000 people vote this time, or not. Many people registered but for one reason or another gave up voting.

So the figure we should be paying attention to is the percentage of people who actually voted among those who registered as voters.

The turnout of overseas voters in this general election was 62.8 percent, with about 93,000 out of about 148,000 registered voters voting.

93,000 people just like her, and it doesn't mean much to split into each district… You can't do it.

In the previous general elections, the turnout of overseas voters was 45.7 percent for the 19th, 41.4 percent for the 20s, and 23.8 percent for the 21st, respectively.

The 21st generation was reluctant to move in the aftermath of the coronavirus, and in countries where the situation was serious, the polling place itself was closed, so it was an exception.

Therefore, it should be compared with the 19th and 20th general elections. In general elections, turnout was usually around 40 percent. (The presidential election is about 70 percent because the atmosphere is so warm.)

However, the 22nd general election recorded a turnout of 60%, more than 20% than before.

Voting in a foreign country is completely different from voting in Korea. Most embassies and consulates have polling stations, but they have to literally cross mountains and seas.

If you look at the overseas referendum photos posted on social media, there are many contents such as a 10-hour drive to the embassy, but it's not an exaggeration at all.

A 10-hour drive by car, voting, flying on a plane with my own money, voting, what I mean is that everyone went to vote while grinding their teeth.

The number of votes itself does not mean much in overseas elections, but it works well as a barometer of public sentiment.

More than 10 years have passed since the overseas referendum was conducted, and data has accumulated and rough analysis is possible. Usually, a turnout of 55% or higher is considered favorable to the opposition party, and a lower turnout is considered favorable to the ruling party.

Would I be a judge of the government if I had to give up my livelihood and run a long way to vote, even if I was busy living abroad? Or would I lose to the government?

Of course you know the answer.

In conclusion, the turnout of overseas Koreans in the general election is a harbinger of a huge storm coming from far across the sea.

We'll find out next week who's going to be swept away by this storm.