The NEC held chairpersons’ meeting of overseas voting committees from 7^th to 8^th November at Seoul Olympic Parktel for perfect management of overseas voting of the National Assembly Elections (which will be held on 11^th April, 2012), as it invited chairpersons of overseas voting committees around the world.

The meeting began with the welcoming remarks of the chairman of the NEC (Justice Nung-Hwan Kim) and the special lecture of the standing commissioner of the NEC (Mr. Kyung-Keun Kang) and education programmes on how to manage the overseas voting committees and general affairs of the overseas election procedures were provided. The meeting was held a week before the application period for overseas absentee voting and overseas voters registration (from 13^th November 2011 to 11^th February 2012).

On the second day of the meeting (8^th November), discussions on major issues and countermeasures of each nation regarding overseas voting were made in the morning and the secretary-general of the NEC (Mr. Jong-Woo Lee) wrapped up the meeting with delivering the management guidelines of overseas voting in the afternoon.

The chairpersons were elected in the first commissioners’ meeting of the overseas voting committees in October this year and will be in charge of general affairs of overseas voting management: establishment of overseas polling stations; management of voting; and prevention and monitoring of electoral crimes.

The NEC expects that the chairpersons will play the pivotal role in managing overseas voting successfully with pride and a sense of duty in a fair and neutral manner.