Polls close in South Korea, voter turnout low

Voting started Thursday in the South Korean elections

April 13, 2000
Web posted at: 6:19 p.m. HKT (1019 GMT)

SEOUL, South Korea -- Polls closed Thursday evening in South Korea's parliamentary elections, and early indications suggested voter turnout was likely to reach an all-time low.

"(The turnout) is likely to fall short of that in the last election, and we note people in their 20s and 30s are especially reluctant to participate," National Elections Commission spokesman Kim Do-youn said.

Turnout was 50.6 percent of the 33.5 million eligible voters as of 5 p.m. (0800 GMT). Polls closed at 6 p.m. Yonhap news agency reported the turnout could break the record low of 63.9 percent in the 1996 elections.

VIDEO CNN's Sohn Jie-Ae talks with voters. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     AUDIO Yonsei University's Lee Chong-Min comments on the upcoming summit 106k/9 sec. AIFF or WAV sound     RESOURCES TIME: 'North Korea Has to Work With Us' TIME: Verdict On Kim Asiaweek: Evaluating Kim Asiaweek: The (Korean) Art of Politics as Usual Details on South Korea's election candidates     MESSAGE BOARD North and South Korea

Analysts have said the election was a referendum on President Kim Dae-jung's policies. They also suggested Monday's surprise announcement of a summit with North Korea could have helped his party. The opposition, however, said that the announcement was a ploy.

Kim's Millennium Democratic Party was a minority in the outgoing parliament, and recent public surveys had it and the main opposition Grand National Party in a tight race before the summit announcement.

"The South-North summit, announced only three days before the election, is a despicable political conspiracy," said Lee Hoi-chang, head of the opposition party.

Despite the obvious benefits from the summit, analysts said that the ruling party is unlikely to emerge as an absolute majority force in the new parliament. That will force it to find a coalition partner.

A total of 1,040 candidates are vying for 227 seats to be filled by direct vote. Another 46 members will be chosen by proportional representation counting the total number of votes to each party.

Plans for a summit between North and South Korea were announced earlier this week, marking the biggest diplomatic step forward on the tense Korean peninsula in half a century

In the election, Kim is seeking a mandate for his economic reforms and engagement with the North's communist government.

"The two issues are matters of grave concern to international policymakers and pundits," said Kim Kyong-won, a political and diplomatic analyst.

The summit has considerably muzzled opposition criticism that Kim's engagement policy has failed to produce concessions from the North.

Analysts say talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, scheduled for June 12-14 in the North's capital of Pyongyang, could encourage those with families in North Korea to vote for the ruling party.

Millions of North Koreans immigrated to South Korea after the 1945 division of the Korean peninsula and during the 1950-53 Korean War, and most have lost touch with their families in the North.

Analysts say President Kim Dae-jung's decision to engage North Korea in summit talks may boost the Millennium Democratic Party's chances of winning the election

President Kim has publicly said reunions of those separated family members will top the agenda.

Only 50 people from each Korea were allowed to cross the border in 1985 for the first temporary family reunions. No further reunions have since been arranged because of military and political tensions. The Korean border, the world's most heavily armed, is sealed with nearly 2 million troops deployed on both sides.

Another pressing issue for Kim's 2-year-old government is the reform of South Korea's inefficient economic systems, especially its family-owned conglomerates, or chaebol. About a dozen of the conglomerates collapsed under debts in 1997, forcing South Korea to accept a record $58 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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