The NEC announced that any elector who intends to vote overseas for the National Assembly elections which will be held on 11^th April Next year due to living abroad or business trip can file an application for overseas voters registration and overseas absentee application from 13^th November.

The procedure, form and preparation of an application for overseas voters registration and overseas absentee application are posted on the website of the NEC(http://ok.nec.go.kr).

The application period will continue until 11^th February next year for 91 days and overseas voters are allowed to cast their ballots at overseas polling places from 28^th March to 2^nd April 2012 for 6 days.

Overseas permanent residents whose resident registration has not been made or whose domestic residence has not been reported are allowed to file an application for overseas voters registration and cast ballots for elections of proportional representatives of the National Assembly.

Any person who intends to apply for registration of an overseas elector should visit diplomatic missions in person and present his/haer passport and the original copy of the document to prove the nationality.

Any person who leaves Korea before the period(5^th April, 2012) for absentee voting and is scheduled to return home after the election day; and any person who will not return home until the election day because he/she stays or lives in a foreign country, as a person whose resident registration has been made or whose domestic residence has been reported, is allowed to file a overseas absentee application: such as overseas travellers, students studying abroad, businessmen and employees abroad.

Even the permanent residents whose domestic residence has been reported should file an overseas absentee application in order to cast their ballots abroad, and a person who earned the citizenship of other countries is not allowed to file the application, because he/she is not a Korean under the Korean Nationality Act.

Overseas voting applicants whose resident registration has been made are allowed to cast ballots for both elections of district representatives and proportional representatives, but overseas permanent residents whose domestic residence has been reported are only allowed to participate in elections of proportional representatives of the National Assembly.

In order to file an overseas voting application, applicants should submit application forms to heads of place of resident registration or place of domestic residence (Gu/Si/Gun) via mail or in person and electors staying abroad should submit forms to diplomatic missions.

As of July, 2011, an estimated number of prospective overseas voters is 2.23million in total: 1.08million in Asia; 1.03 million in the Americas; 93,000 in Europe; 12,000 in the middle East; and 8,000 in Africa. It is estimated that among them, about 919,000 people are permanent residents who can apply for overseas voters registration and about 1.317 million people are sojourners such as students studying abroad who can file an overseas absentee application.

The NEC has a plan to conduct promotional activities using various methods in order to raise awareness: providing language services on overseas voting websites; putting banner ads on major internet portal sites; conducting promotional events on the facebook of overseas voting ( http://www.facebook.com/neckorea ); putting ads on satellite broadcasting TVs and Korean newspapers abroad; producing and distributing promotional posters and leaflets of overseas voting; and putting ads on international airports, international airplanes and airport limousines.

In addition, overseas voting committees established at 159 diplomatic missions worldwide will also plan to promote active participation in overseas voting targeting the Korean community and Korean media which lead the public opinion.

The NEC urged overseas Koreans to take part in overseas voting saying that it expects continuous support and care from all the Korean people including Koreans living abroad in order to make the first overseas voting for the National Assembly elections successful.