57% of Koreans Support Overseas Absentee Voting

57% of Koreans Support Overseas Absentee Voting:

About 57.4 percent of respondents welcomed the decision to grant suffrage to some 2.5 million Korean nationals living overseas and allow them to vote in the general elections in 2012 and beyond, according to a survey Sunday.

Yet, 60.3 percent of Koreans expressed objections to allowing them to vote by mail or online, and instead wanted them to vote directly at embassies or polling stations.

The survey of 800 adults in seven cities nationwide was conducted by the research firm Embrain over the past three months for the Overseas Koreans Foundation, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

In February 2009, the National Assembly approved a revised bill to let Korean expatriates pick the president and lawmakers under the proportional representation system.

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