Kim Kyung-hyup outlines five priorities including digital platform and expanded hangul school support

Overseas Koreans Agency Commissioner Kim Kyung-hyup presents a ministry briefing to President Lee Jae Myung at Cheong Wa Dae's banquet hall on Aug. 5. [Yonhap]
Overseas Koreans Agency Commissioner Kim Kyung-hyup presents a ministry briefing to President Lee Jae Myung at Cheong Wa Dae's banquet hall on Aug. 5. [Yonhap]

Overseas Koreans Agency Commissioner Kim Kyung-hyup marked his first year in office by declaring the 7 million Koreans living abroad a vital national human asset and pledging to pursue five priority initiatives, including postal and electronic voting for overseas citizens and a relaxation of the age limit for dual nationality.

Speaking at a press briefing Wednesday at the Overseas Koreans Welcome Center in Incheon's Yeonsu-gu, Kim said the diaspora community was "no longer strangers but a precious human asset of the state and a partner of the Republic of Korea." He added that overseas Koreans were emerging as a key solution to the country's demographic cliff and shortage of working-age population.

Kim cited stronger communication and institutional reform as the two main achievements of the past year. He said the agency had held 23 presidential meetings with overseas Koreans — the highest number on record — deployed dedicated consular officers to areas with large Korean communities and introduced operational guidelines. Of 1,431 proposals submitted through overseas diplomatic missions, 989, or about 69 percent, had been resolved, he added.

On eliminating institutional discrimination, Kim said the agency had merged the work-and-visit visa and the overseas Korean visa for Koreans from China and the Commonwealth of Independent States, ending a 20-year disparity based on country of origin. He added that the number of services accessible with an overseas Korean identification certificate had expanded 33-fold, from nine to 296, and that the agency had also introduced international driver's license issuance at overseas missions, included overseas Koreans in elementary school ethics textbooks and established a dedicated unit for returning diaspora members.

The agency's proposed 2027 budget was set at 136.9 billion won ($101 million), a 21.4 percent increase from this year. The plan includes an additional 6 billion won for hangul school support, 3.4 billion won in new funding to build an integrated digital platform for overseas Koreans, and an increase of more than 74 percent in the budget for supporting the permanent return and resettlement of Sakhalin Koreans.

Kim outlined five priorities for the period ahead: building an integrated digital platform for overseas Koreans by 2027; relaxing the age limit for dual nationality to support economic participation; introducing postal and electronic voting for overseas elections and expanding the number of polling stations; gradually raising the operating-cost subsidy rate for hangul schools to 50 percent; and fulfilling the state's obligations to historically displaced communities — including Sakhalin Koreans, Goryeo people and adoptees — while supporting the resettlement of returning diaspora members.

"Introducing postal and electronic voting is not simply an institutional improvement — it is the state's duty to guarantee the basic rights of its citizens," Kim said. "We will make the small voice of every overseas Korean the starting point of policy and build an inclusive diaspora policy free of discrimination."


sunpine@heraldcorp.com