“Buan Residential Vote, Under Consideration by Government”

“Buan Residential Vote, Under Consideration by Government”. November. 24, 2003 22:30. by Jong-Hoon Lee taylor55@donga.com.

It was reported on November 24 that the government is seriously taking consideration of letting Buan citizens vote to decide whether the nuclear waste dump should be built, as planned through the mutual consent of Buan citizens and the government, without making any new laws.

The former examples of residential voting, which has occurred approximately 10 times so far, usually show a head of a self-governing body making the decision for a vote. Therefore, it seems possible to hold a vote in Buan if the citizens and the government come to an agreement and if Buan County controls the voting process.

Issuing regulations at the local assembly had been seriously considered until yesterday. However, it was finally excluded as the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs asserted its possible violation of the constitution in the situation where there is no legal system concerning residential voting.

Cho Young-taek, chief Planning and Coordination Officer of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said, “The law on local self-governments states that a head of a self-governing body can put an issue up for a vote, and the legal formalities and the processes are established by law. The problem is that there is no law for it. It is difficult to issue regulations.”

The government will make its position clear about the Buan issues, including a working plan of the residential vote in response to a mediation offer, with “The arbitration group for Buan residential vote on the nuclear waste dump issue” proposal on November 25. The group is composed of people from non-government organizations.