Yesterday, a discussion was held at the first meeting room of the National Assembly in Korea.

They were pondering why the voting rate for overseas citizens is less than 10%, and honestly, it's surprising that they are only now considering this issue.

There are 7.3 million overseas Koreans, and among them, about 1.97 million have voting rights, yet the turnout is below 10%.

During the last presidential election, it was only 10.4%.

At this point, we should be asking not "Why isn't it happening?" but rather "Is the system even capable of facilitating this?"

The reason is quite simple. It's incredibly inconvenient to go vote.

Currently, there are 223 polling places in 118 countries centered around overseas diplomatic missions, which is just not feasible.

The idea that this can cover the entire world seems unrealistic.

Just look at the size of the U.S.; asking someone to drive for hours to vote is absurd, especially on a weekday. Haha.

People have to take time off work to do this. It seems misguided to set up a system like this and then ask, "Why aren't you voting?"

At the discussion, there was a lot of talk about mail-in voting and electronic voting.

OECD countries are already doing it, and there are examples from the U.S., France, and Germany.

Even Estonia conducts electronic voting regularly.

Yet, Korea is still "under review." It's ironic that a country known for its IT prowess can't manage to conduct voting online.

Of course, there are reasons. Security issues, fairness concerns, and various other arguments come up.

However, the fact that they have been unable to implement this for over ten years due to the same reasons suggests a lack of will.

In today's world, electronic documents, electronic signatures, and even transfers of hundreds of thousands of dollars can be done online.

It feels like Korea can do it but chooses not to. Meanwhile, overseas Koreans with voting rights are facing the same inconveniences.

Reports from the field indicate that to vote, one must register in advance, go again on the day of voting, and spend more than two days on the process.

This is the reality. So, achieving even a 10% turnout is quite remarkable.

Honestly, it's not the time to criticize the low participation rate; we should first examine how that 10% was achieved.

Interestingly, there are already several related bills in the National Assembly, yet they are not being properly discussed.

It seems they are not considered important issues. Meanwhile, they are also fervently stating that "we must guarantee the right to vote."

That statement is correct. However, the lack of corresponding action is the problem.

From the perspective of overseas citizens, there is a bittersweet aspect. They pay taxes, maintain their Korean nationality, and have interest, yet when it comes time to vote, the barriers are too high. It seems out of order to point out low turnout while leaving the situation unchanged for years.

Ultimately, under the current system, the voting rate will never increase.

It is physically close to impossible. Whether through mail-in voting, electronic voting, or at least significantly reducing the registration process, something needs to change. If nothing changes, we will continue to hover around the 10% mark.

Whenever such discussions arise, there is always a comment about needing to be "cautious."

However, if caution drags on too long, it simply becomes procrastination. From the perspective of overseas citizens, it feels like they have already waited long enough.

Personally, I believe the direction of this discussion is correct. However, if it ends up being just another "we had a good discussion" without any actual changes, it will be meaningless.

Otherwise, during the next election, we will again see headlines like "Overseas voting rate below 10%... Are there any improvements?"