Overseas voting for the June 3 presidential election began on May 20. Shown are Korean residents of Egypt in March 2024 voting in the parliamentary elections at a polling station within the Korean Embassy in Cairo. (Yonhap News)

By Yoon Sojung

Overseas voting on May 20 began for the presidential election scheduled for June 3.

The National Election Commission (NEC) on May 19 said voting abroad started that day from 8 a.m. and will end on May 25 at 5 p.m. at 223 polling stations in 118 countries (all local times). For this election, four countries with which Korea newly formed diplomatic ties -- Cuba, Luxembourg, Lithuania and Estonia -- have such booths.

Another 39 stations were set up at embassies and diplomatic missions in regions with a Korean population of over 30,000. Two contingents of troops deployed abroad -- the Dongmyeong Unit of Korea's United Nations peacekeeping operations in Lebanon and the Hanbit Unit in Uganda -- each also got a station.

Voting is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the local time of each venue. Voters should check the location and operating period of such stations on the websites of embassies and missions given differing schedules.

A photo ID or a certificate issued by the government of the host country is needed to vote abroad. Expatriates without a Korean registration number must present an original document verifying nationality.

Those eligible to vote in Korea include those who registered and applied to do so but returned home without voting or people who did not leave Korea and did not vote overseas. Such voters can vote on June 3 at a domestic polling station if they register with the election commission within their jurisdiction from May 26, eight days before Election Day.

A combined 258,254 overseas voters were confirmed through early registration, up 14.3% from the 2022 election but down 12.3% from the 2017 one. By continent, Asia had the most with 128,000 (49.9%), followed by the Americas with 75,000 (29.3%).

Because the manuscript for the overseas ballot was finalized on May 16, it does not reflect the May 18 dropping out of Koo Joo-wa (No. 6) of the Liberty Unification Party from the race. Thus any vote for Koo will be invalidated.

Details on voting booths and schedules are available on the overseas voting section of the NEC website (https://ova.nec.go.kr) and those of diplomatic missions and embassies.

arete@korea.kr