Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok, left, chief of the principle opposition Individuals Energy Get together, speaks throughout his go to to the development web site for the semiconductor cluster advanced in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. Joint Press Corps
Political events are clashing over whether or not on-line platforms must be required to reveal the nationality of commenters, as the problem is rising as a flashpoint forward of the June 3 native elections.
Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok, chief of the principle opposition Individuals Energy Get together (PPP), has referred to as for the obligatory disclosure of commenters’ nationalities on on-line platforms, together with restrictions on international nationals’ voting rights in native elections, citing issues over international interference in home politics.
Whereas comparable arguments have beforehand been raised by particular person lawmakers, this marks the primary time the conservatives have formally superior the problem on the social gathering management stage.
“Public opinion is being distorted by feedback from international nationals,” Jang wrote on social media on Saturday. “There was even a case wherein an X account that posted greater than 65,000 feedback criticizing the PPP over the previous seven years was discovered to have a login location in China.”
Jang additionally argued that Korea’s sovereignty is being undermined by the enlargement of voting rights for international residents, noting that greater than 140,000 international nationals are actually eligible to vote in native elections.
Beneath the present legislation, international residents who’ve held everlasting residency for greater than three years and are registered within the international resident registry are allowed to vote in native elections. They aren’t, nevertheless, permitted to vote in presidential or normal elections.
Jang cited a current joint survey by Seoul Nationwide College’s Institute for Future Technique and Hankook Analysis, wherein 64 p.c of respondents mentioned they help a system requiring the disclosure of commenters’ nationality on on-line information articles. Moreover, 69 p.c mentioned international nationals from nations that don’t grant voting rights to Koreans shouldn’t be allowed to vote in Korean native elections.
Park Sung-hoon, the PPP’s chief spokesperson, echoed these sentiments. “Issues are rising that coordinated, overseas-based commenting actions may distort home on-line public opinion forward of the native elections this June,” he mentioned.
The PPP members’ claims echo rumors amongst far-right teams that China interfered in Korea’s earlier elections — a rationale cited by former President Yoon Suk Yeol for imposing martial legislation in December 2024. Within the 2022 native elections, 126,668 international residents had voting rights, with Chinese language nationals accounting for 78.9 p.c of them. Of that whole, solely 16,973, or 13.5 p.c, truly solid their ballots.
Rep. Jung Chung-rae, chief of the ruling Democratic Get together of Korea, listens to remarks by a neighborhood district head through the social gathering’s on-site Supreme Council assembly in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, Friday. Yonhap
The ruling Democratic Get together of Korea (DPK) strongly criticized the PPP’s stance.
Kim Hyun-jung, the DPK’s ground spokesperson, questioned the timing and intent behind the claims.
“Why does the PPP convey this up at this explicit second?” Kim mentioned. “Isn’t this a cowardly try to evade actuality by blaming its plunging approval rankings on so-called exterior interference?”
Kim argued that the PPP has repeatedly turned to anti-China rhetoric every time public opinion runs counter to its far-right positions. He added that even after Jang’s current apology over the Yoon-led rebel situation, the social gathering has didn’t get better in approval rankings, which is why it’s as soon as once more selling conspiracy theories focusing on China.
He added that the principle opposition social gathering ought to “cease using far-right logic to flee actuality.”
Kim Ji-ho, one other DPK spokesperson, warned that political offensives that inflame anti-Chinese language sentiment do little to serve Korea’s nationwide pursuits or diplomatic relations.
Proposals to mandate nationality disclosure for on-line commenters are usually not new.
In 2024, PPP Rep. Na Kyung-won launched laws requiring on-line platforms to show commenters’ nationality and location-based entry knowledge. An analogous invoice was proposed in 2023 by PPP Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon to require data service suppliers to point customers’ nation or nationality and whether or not proxy connections have been used.
But, opponents have raised issues concerning the feasibility of such measures, noting that figuring out a consumer’s nationality primarily based solely on entry location is technically unreliable, as connection places don’t essentially replicate citizenship.
