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Foreigners Voting in Korea? It won’t cost you your U.S. citizenship, in case you wondered, but I’m struggling with whether this is a good idea. Yes, Korea could stand to show more respect for the basic human dignity of non-Koreans, but in some ways, so could this country and many others. That doesn’t mean that giving people the vote is the only way to ensure that. Nor would the voting right apply to national elections, as it indeed shouldn’t. Korean national policy ought to be determined by those who have at least chosen to make the country a permanent home (a test that admittedly would exclude plenty of ethnic Koreans).

Add to this the fact that it looks a lot like a GNP scheme to rake in presumably sympathetic votes, and I lean against it, just as I recoil from efforts to allow illegals and felons to vote here.

The USFK, of course, is certain to paddle furiously away from letting its soldiers vote in Korean elections, lest it create a perception of direct U.S. military meddling in Korean politics. Nor should the GNP necessarily presume how expats would vote.

If the GNP is really interested in getting voter participation out of a group that has a real long-term stake in South Korea’s governance, wouldn’t it make far more sense to find a way for North Korean refugees–including those who are hiding in China–to register and vote? North Koreans, after all, are legally South Korean citizens now. It’s hard to think of a better way to quicken the gestation of North Korean politics.