South Korea’s upcoming presidential elections may be thousands of miles away, but that hasn’t stopped Korean Americans from participating in presidential politics — even though they don’t have voting rights. Korean American leaders who claim to be well-connected to Korean politicians are financing grassroots organizations in the United States to mobilize support for their candidates of choice. Since they can’t vote in Korean elections, they came up with a different plan. Community groups will distribute pre-paid phone cards to Korean Americans, encouraging them to call and urge their relatives back home to vote for certain candidates.
Activists are also preparing to wage battles in cyberspace. “We have already had over a thousand visitors to our Internet site in less than two weeks,” says Moo Han Bae, co-chair of the Committee to Support Lee Myung-bak, a presidential candidate.??
According to Web traffic data analyzing companies Traffic Estimate and Alexa, the pro-Lee Myung-bak site ilovembusa.com drew more than 7,400 visits in October, most of the users coming from the United States. For months, Korean television, radio and newspapers have provided comprehensive coverage of the race in Korea and the activities of U.S. Korean groups. In fact, as the Grand National Party (GNP) held a convention to elect its presidential candidate, Korean newspapers in Los Angeles extended their publishing deadline for hours to report the results.
The Korean presidential election that has become the talk of the Korean American community will be held on Dec. 19. But the contenders are not as appealing to voters in Korea, observers say, because none of them are offering anything new, and the conservative party already has such a substantial lead. Major candidates include Lee Myung-bak of the conservative GNP, a former mayor of Seoul, Chung Dong-young of the liberal United New Democratic Party (UNDP), a TV-anchor-turned-politician, Rhee In-je of the Democratic Party, who has run twice and failed both times, and independent Moon Kook-hyun, a business executive who is in the process of creating his own political party.??
Korean American activists consider their participation crucial to helping guide their motherland in the right direction. Citing a gloomy forecast of the South Korean economy and “social unrest,” supporters of Lee Myung-bak say they are obligated to save their native Korea from heading toward a disastrous end under the current left-leaning administration. According to them, a stable Korea is important for the security of the United States, their adopted country.
For Bong Soo Lee, vice president of the Advisory Council on Democratic and Peaceful Unification of Korea, Los Angeles Chapter, who is starting an organization to support Chung Dong-young, the UNDP’s presidential candidate, the election is about preserving democracy and personal relationships. “It has been only a decade since democracy bloomed in South Korea, and Korea is still divided into two countries. We must continue what we have begun. To do that, we need to elect the right candidate,” says Lee, who met with candidate Chung 10 years ago and has maintained a good relationship with him since.
