Kwon Seong-dong Proposes Law Restricting Voting Rights for Chinese Nationals... "Is This Anti-China Sentiment?"

Kwon Seong-dong, a member of the People Power Party who proposed the 'Reciprocity Fair Election Act' aimed at restricting voting rights for Chinese residents in Korea and others, raised his voice against criticisms of 'Sinophobia,' calling them "sophistry" and stating that his proposal is based on the principle of reciprocity.

On the 14th, Kwon said through his social media (SNS), "Some media outlets and broadcast panelists have started criticizing the 'Reciprocity Fair Election Act.' They argue that foreign voters make up only 0.2% of the total electorate, so the impact is negligible, and some even spout the sophistry of 'Sinophobia,'" he said.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Reciprocity Fair Election Act he proposed aims to recognize local election voting rights only for nationals of countries that grant voting rights to Koreans. The current law grants local election voting rights after three years of permanent residency.

He said, "I absolutely cannot agree with defining the discussion on election law amendments based on the principle of reciprocity as 'hatred.' Our nationals do not have voting rights in China," and questioned, "Can China claim to hate Korea based on this?"

Kwon pointed out, "Also, many countries grant voting rights only to citizens. Cases where voting rights are extended to permanent residents are rare," adding, "If the logic of left-wing media is applied here, it would mean the whole world hates the whole world."

He said, "The law is a means to realize values and principles in reality. The public election law amendment I proposed is based on the universally valid principle of reciprocity," and added, "Those who define this as 'hatred' ultimately mean that they hate the principle itself."

Regarding the criticism that foreign voters make up only 0.2%, making interference in domestic affairs impossible, Kwon said, "First, the number of foreign voters is steadily increasing. Even if foreign voters currently make up 0.2%, this will increase in the future," and added, "Elections can be decided by a single vote. In the last local election, the Gyeonggi Province governor election was decided by a margin of 0.15%, that is, 8,913 votes, and the outcome of the Ansan mayoral election was decided by only 179 votes."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.