"Paid 700,000 won to fly and vote" Overseas citizens willingly paid the 'price of democracy'

[Financial News]  As the overseas voting for the 21st presidential election ended with the highest voter turnout ever, stories of those who participated in the voting are being shared online.

A day before the overseas voting began, on the 19th, a question titled 'Milsis, how much is the price of democracy?' was posted on a women's online community. Here, 'Milsis' is an internet term meaning 'women living abroad'.

Then, the author A wrote, "I think it will be about 300 euros (about 700,000 won) when I calculate the train cost of 103 euros, hotel stay cost of 120 euros, and other expenses."

Since polling stations are not as densely located as in Korea, overseas voting sometimes involves long-distance travel and even accommodation, which incurs costs. A referred to this as the 'price of democracy'.

After A's post, various amounts and contents of 'price of democracy' were commented on.

Someone replied, "Taking a day off costs 120,000 won including daily wage and transportation," and another said, "It seems like it will cost about 600 Australian dollars (about 540,000 won) including 400 Australian dollars for the flight and 150 Australian dollars for accommodation."

A post about taking a 2 AM train to catch a discounted (super price) 60 euro train also caught attention.

A said, "I am not trying to say that those who pay more think more about the presidential election. Nevertheless, I wrote to inform that there are people who take planes and make time to exercise their right to vote by paying money."

The post was captured and uploaded to a domestic online community, receiving a hot response.

Posts were uploaded saying, "There is someone around me who has lived abroad for a long time and said they voted as an overseas citizen for the first time," or "I saw someone who missed the overseas voting registration and booked a flight to match the main voting day."

Another netizen living abroad said, "I have participated in the overseas election voting every time. But this is the first time I saw a line in front of the polling station," also conveying the hot election enthusiasm of the actual overseas voting.

On the 26th, the Central Election Management Committee announced that the overseas voter turnout for the presidential election recorded the highest ever at 79.5% based on the number of registered voters. It increased by 7.9%p compared to the previous presidential election (2022) turnout of 71.6%, marking the highest figure since the introduction of overseas voting.

The Election Commission estimates that there are 1,974,375 overseas voters, of which 258,254 were registered. About 200,000 of those registered actually participated in the vote. It was 10.4% compared to the estimated number of overseas voters and 79.5% compared to the number of registered voters.

The 'price of democracy' bill will arrive along with the main vote on June 3, following the early voting on May 29 and 30. 

y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter