At the end of last year, 2019, there was an amendment of the Public Official Election Act. According to the changed law, starting from April 15 general election, 18 years old or older, particularly those who were born on April 16, 2002, downward can participate in the general election. This means that some of the students in the third grade of high school can also vote.

▲ The age of right to vote was lowered at the end of last year, 2019.

On January 30th, 2020, there was a debate, which is about allowing the 18-year-olds to participate in national elections or not. This debate was done to announce the meaning of political rights which are given to students and to minimize the confusion about their right to vote. During the debate, the pros and cons of the 18-year-olds' right to vote were emphasized.

People who agreed with the new amendment had two big reasons. First, allowing 18-year-olds to participate in the national election is already practiced in many countries. South Korea is the only nation that limits the teenagers' right to vote to nineteen years old instead of eighteen which has been already practiced by many nations that joined OECD. Some of the developing countries in Africa have already extended voting rights to 18-year-olds. Also, some countries such as Austria, Australia, Germany, and New Zealand even allow 18-year-olds to practice their right to vote. Second, they insisted that those with the age of 18 are actually considered adults. The reason is that their cognitive ability has already matured and that they can even marry and join the army.

▲ Many of the leading countries` age of right to vote is lower than that of South Korea.

On the other hand, people who disagreed with the new amendment that allows the 18-year-olds to participate in the national election insisted that students this age are not politically matured yet. They doubt the students' ability to make choices. They also insisted that students may violate the election law. Many of the students might have not learned how to vote and might not know yet the rules included in the election law. So, they are concerned about the mass production of election crimes. The third reason is that allowing 18-year-olds to participate in a national elections can interfere with their studies.

▲ Some people disagree with the lowering the age of right to vote in front of the Parliament House.

According to the National Assembly Education, they are now making discussion on various categories like how they should educate 18 years old students, the age of the most third-year high school, to vote rightfully and how much they should allow electioneering. Also, according to Education Superintendent, Lee Jaejeong, it is a great chance to give 18 years old students the political rights, and it is important to give them the opportunity to make choices themselves. He also said that even 16-year-old voters are not far off.

February 9th, 2020

by Lee Dowon