[Reporter’s Notebook] Overseas Koreans Vote 'Over Mountains and Across Waters' Without Knowing the Pledges

The reporter has a younger sibling, just a year apart in age, who lives in Turin, Italy. On May 24, the sibling traveled all the way to Milan to participate in the overseas early voting for the 21st presidential election. Although the round-trip train journey took two hours and cost 28 euros (approximately 43,682 won), the sibling did not begrudge the time or expense in order to cast a precious vote. Before boarding the train, the sibling checked the election brochure that had arrived by email to learn about the candidates' pledges, but found the explanations vague and somehow unrealistic. So the sibling asked the reporter, as an older brother, what the candidates' specific pledges were and what differences existed between them. However, the reporter could not answer.

The People Power Party and the Democratic Party of Korea only released their official pledge books as the 21st presidential election drew near. These are the latest pledge books to be published in any presidential election to date. The People Power Party posted its pledge book on its website on May 26, just eight days before the election, and the Democratic Party released theirs on May 28. The Democratic Party's pledge book was made public just one day before early voting began. The pledge books are also voluminous: the People Power Party's is 430 pages long, while the Democratic Party's is 375 pages. How many voters will be able to thoroughly read such a massive amount of content and cast their votes the next day?

Both parties offer their own explanations. They argue that, because this is the first-ever June presidential election held due to the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, there was not enough time. In the 2017 presidential election, which was held after the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, pledges were also announced late, but candidate Moon Jae-in officially released his pledge book 11 days before the election, and candidate Hong Joon-pyo did so 22 days prior.

The pledge book is the most important resource for understanding the vision of the party that has nominated a candidate. Of course, both parties' candidates have explained their pledges at campaign events and in televised debates, but the specific details must be checked in the pledge book. Whether intentional or not, it is an undeniable fact that the presidential candidates have avoided scrutiny. Voters have been deprived of the opportunity to thoroughly review and verify the parties' pledges over an extended period.

In the absence of pledge verification, mutual slander has run rampant. The main topics in televised debates have been the candidates' family backgrounds and debate demeanor, which are far removed from policy competition. Not stopping at negative campaigning, each candidate has filed charges against the other for allegedly spreading false information. The issue of unifying the conservative camp's candidates has remained unresolved since the beginning of the presidential race. Instead of clearly explaining their respective policies, the focus has been solely on combining the two candidates' approval ratings and the likelihood of winning the election.

While the reporter's sibling took a two-hour train ride to vote, an 18-year-old college student in New Zealand, the first overseas voter in this election, had to wait seven hours. Politicians who once claimed they would do anything to win votes have shown disrespect to these voters by releasing their pledges so late. With only a week left until the presidential election, now is the time to engage in a policy debate based on the pledge books. It is time for each candidate to present their vision and explain the issues that the public is curious about in a way that is easy to understand.