The application allows citizens to directly make donations to politicians. (image: Republic of Korea National Election Commission)
SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean people can now conveniently give a donation to a politician they support through their smartphones.
The Republic of Korea National Election Commission announced on November 17 that it would launch an application to allow citizens to directly make donations to politicians. The app called the “Smartphone Political Support System” will let smartphone users easily pay money whenever and wherever they want just as they pay utility bills or communication expenses.
Until now, those who want to donate money for lawmakers through smartphones are only allowed by indirectly sending the money to the election commission. Then, the agency has distributed the cumulative contribution to each party proportional to its polling rates and the number of seats in the National Assembly.
The commission expects that the new application will establish a new political fundraising scheme under the circumstances in which more than 39 million Korean people, approximately 94 percent of the total voters, use smartphones.
In order to use the application, SK Telecom users can run the app which is already installed on the phone while LG Uplus and KT users should install the application.
Public officials and private school teachers who originally can’t be a member of a political party are only allowed to donate money through the commission. They have not been allowed to give a donation directly to a specific politician.
Aside from the political fundraising application, more and more smartphone applications play an important role in elections in the “smart” era. During the sixth local election held on June 4, an application called the “Smart Election” drew attention from many voters. Voters could conveniently examine election promises, profiles and careers of each candidate on the app while candidates can promote themselves anytime and anywhere using the application.
By Veronica Huh (veronicah@korabizwire.com)
