The Secretary-General (Mr. Jong-Woo Lee) of the National Election Commission gave a lecture on the management of overseas voting in 2012 to 188 heads of overseas diplomatic missions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on February 21th.

The Secretary-General explained about the meaning and importance of overseas voting for the National Assembly elections and Presidential election in 2012 and asked the heads of overseas diplomatic missions to actively cooperate for the successful management of overseas voting including management of overseas polling stations.

The Secretary-General pointed out following points:

l  Secure and educate the workforce for the management of overseas polling stations in advance

l  Come up with measures for the safety management of polling stations

l  Prepare the measures for the information security management in advance

l  Manage the overseas voting in a thorough way to prevent litigations and deal with those properly in case of litigations

l  Encourage voters to cast their ballots with the help from local Korean media or organizations

In particular, he stressed out the strict political neutrality of overseas diplomatic missions and asked officials of missions to maintain an objective and impartial stance in order to prevent problems such as disputes regarding intervention by government power in elections.

In addition, the Secretary-General asked the heads of overseas diplomatic missions to take a lead with a keen interest in order that the overseas voting will serve as a momentum to integrate the overseas Korean communities, as letting people know its importance and the effect which the overseas voting will have on the political development of Korea.