South Korea holds election amid COVID-19 pandemic | Coronavirus News
South Korea holds election amid COVID-19 pandemic | Coronavirus News
let's head into this newscast for the
latest coming in from South Korea South
Koreans went to polling stations wearing
masks and gloves to cast their votes to
elect the country's 21st National
Assembly amid the corona virus outbreak
which has infected thousands in the
country and has been pulling the economy
down now waters across South Korea who
have gathered to cast their vote are
being checked for their body temperature
and they must stand one metre apart from
each other waters also had to wash their
hands use gloves and masks while casting
their vote a social distancing has
become the mandated norm during this
pandemic
Tara : Anna
she knows that I mean item apparel
anything let it go
someone better - Tom Ducati vision young
man hadn't done she'd history a man
grown mountain there while the critics
of the government feared chaos during
the polls voters calmly queued up
outside booths to practice the
constitutional right
reports from Seoul suggest that more
than 11 million people have already cast
their votes it is record turnout of
twenty six percent where even eighteen
year olds are being allowed to vote for
the first time ever
reports also suggest that army staff of
five hundred and fifty five thousand
have also been deployed to ensure safe
and smooth election you want overall
sugar
I'm pulling I'm gonna come young tired
to think this thing out at all to put a
hold up a total of 35 parties have
registered for the election and 300
seats are up for polls in this season
the race is likely to be between ruling
Democratic Party and the opposition
Conservative Party it is also being said
that the government's handling of the
Karuna virus outbreak will be
determining the outcome of this election
positives cases of coronavirus have
surpassed 10,000 and the deadly virus
has killed more than 220 people and
South Korea the country has chosen to go
ahead with the election patients who are
undergoing treatment for the virus have
also been given an opportunity to cast
their ballots who made the country
strategy in containing the virus spread
has been hailed as sport unquote
exemplary Democratic response as today
the moon jae-in government has tested
more than 360,000 people for the virus
but there are still close to twenty
eight hundred active coronavirus cases
with at least 55 made in critical care
in South Korea for more details and a
strength of ground zero let's quickly go
across to our correspondent Bruce
Harrison who is joining us live at this
hour from Seoul they won't welcome to
you Bruce now at a time when many
countries have postponed a election
South Korea is going ahead it's the
first election in a coronavirus era if
people even stepped out to cast their
vote in how polling booths managing the
turnout in times of social distancing
upon sure I'm outside of the polling
station right now and you can see a slow
trickle of people coming in and out this
is actually an old gymnasium part of the
church complex here in Seoul that
they've opened for voting and it's hard
to see but all along this pathway there
are blue arrows and as you mentioned
social distancing is key for this vote
and these arrows are one meter apart and
you're required to stand on these arrows
as you cue to get into the polling
station now I stood by the door for a
while and there was the occasional
moment from staff telling these people
hey get back on your arrow as you're
getting too close to each other but
by and large people have been following
the directions closely the temperatures
are checked you sanitize your hands then
you put on gloves then you get your
ballot and you cast your vote then
you're out toss the gloves back on the
street the process has been fairly
seamless so far people have been polite
cordial and patient as they wait to vote
despite this epidemic here in South
Korea remains a huge factor in these
elections no doubt will president moon
jae-in's ruling Democratic Party of
Korea get a boost from the government's
Swift response to the pandemic or will
it be on the back foot over its handling
of the economy well those are the two
key election issues right now kovat 19
and the economy moon jae-in if anything
is is lucky to an extent that the
election is coming right now in the
country has been able to pull it off
because by and large his government has
received a positive response from the
public over its handling of the corona
virus outbreak here so he really wants
the public to vote their confidence in
his government at the polls today based
on how they've reacted to kovat 19 at
the same time yeah the economy like I
said a key issue the economy was
sluggish before kovat 19 so you can't
put it all on the corona virus outbreak
for small businesses closing it and
other issues here with work so moon is
going to face a challenge in that and
the opposition party is really gonna
blast him saying moon screwed up the
economy for kovat 19 he didn't shut down
the borders with China which led to the
outbreak here in the first place further
hurting the economy so a lot of experts
are saying it's gonna be close based on
those two issues you know let's now
focus on those issues that are
dominating the selection you just
mentioned two very crucial ones beard
women's safety or the rights of the
North Koreans stuff north of the DMZ
what are the key issues now dominating
these elections apart from the ones you
mentioned and Cooke the regional parties
or the smaller players also play a
crucial role well North Korea is always
going to be an issue to some extent
during an election right now obviously a
bit on the back burner when you see the
corona virus outbreak here as well as a
struggling economy
but the opposition party is probably
also going to take an opportunity to
attack moon for what has been by and
large and unsuccessful event - to
negotiate with the North Koreans and
lead to any kind of breakdown of their
nuclear program or any kind of business
across the border so they will certainly
needle the the ruling party for that but
it's really going to fall to the economy
and and to the to the coronavirus
response more broadly health care here
in South Korea is always a key issue
the Koreans typically hold their
government accountable to maintain a
high standard of care and they've seen
that throughout this outbreak so that'll
bode well for the ruling party
absolutely and in fact they're being
lauded at the global stage as far as
South Korea's response is concerned
towards coronavirus now last but not the
least loose this election is also being
touted as a referendum on the reforms
recently passed in South Korea these
electoral reforms are giving the
eighteen-year-olds the right to vote for
the very first time could these 18 year
olds prove to be the deal breaker since
they young are quite fed up of
inequality and the wage gap this would
certainly be an opportunity for them to
to take their voices to vote on those
issues especially considering the high
youth unemployment rate here but we
won't know exactly the demographic
turnout for these elections for at least
probably 24 hours based on the early
voting that took place last Friday and
Saturday to try and thin the lines here
on Wednesday we saw an extremely high
turnout and part of that could have been
the young vote a lot of young people
right now throughout the corona virus
outbreak have perhaps been less
responsive to the government's measures
when it comes to social distancing as
well as hygiene and that's you know
based on the fact that 27 percent of
cases here are linked to people in their
20s and younger so it's unclear how keen
they are to support moon jae-in in this
initiative to boost his party ahead of a
next presidential election but they
certainly have an opportunity they
didn't before in a country that
struggles with finding young people jobs
and getting their voices heard
right we already been told that 11
million people have already cast their
vote let's hope South Koreans actually
turn up in full force to elect their new
government on that note thank you so
much Bruce for bringing us all those
details live from Seoul
latest coming in from South Korea South
Koreans went to polling stations wearing
masks and gloves to cast their votes to
elect the country's 21st National
Assembly amid the corona virus outbreak
which has infected thousands in the
country and has been pulling the economy
down now waters across South Korea who
have gathered to cast their vote are
being checked for their body temperature
and they must stand one metre apart from
each other waters also had to wash their
hands use gloves and masks while casting
their vote a social distancing has
become the mandated norm during this
pandemic
Tara : Anna
she knows that I mean item apparel
anything let it go
someone better - Tom Ducati vision young
man hadn't done she'd history a man
grown mountain there while the critics
of the government feared chaos during
the polls voters calmly queued up
outside booths to practice the
constitutional right
reports from Seoul suggest that more
than 11 million people have already cast
their votes it is record turnout of
twenty six percent where even eighteen
year olds are being allowed to vote for
the first time ever
reports also suggest that army staff of
five hundred and fifty five thousand
have also been deployed to ensure safe
and smooth election you want overall
sugar
I'm pulling I'm gonna come young tired
to think this thing out at all to put a
hold up a total of 35 parties have
registered for the election and 300
seats are up for polls in this season
the race is likely to be between ruling
Democratic Party and the opposition
Conservative Party it is also being said
that the government's handling of the
Karuna virus outbreak will be
determining the outcome of this election
positives cases of coronavirus have
surpassed 10,000 and the deadly virus
has killed more than 220 people and
South Korea the country has chosen to go
ahead with the election patients who are
undergoing treatment for the virus have
also been given an opportunity to cast
their ballots who made the country
strategy in containing the virus spread
has been hailed as sport unquote
exemplary Democratic response as today
the moon jae-in government has tested
more than 360,000 people for the virus
but there are still close to twenty
eight hundred active coronavirus cases
with at least 55 made in critical care
in South Korea for more details and a
strength of ground zero let's quickly go
across to our correspondent Bruce
Harrison who is joining us live at this
hour from Seoul they won't welcome to
you Bruce now at a time when many
countries have postponed a election
South Korea is going ahead it's the
first election in a coronavirus era if
people even stepped out to cast their
vote in how polling booths managing the
turnout in times of social distancing
upon sure I'm outside of the polling
station right now and you can see a slow
trickle of people coming in and out this
is actually an old gymnasium part of the
church complex here in Seoul that
they've opened for voting and it's hard
to see but all along this pathway there
are blue arrows and as you mentioned
social distancing is key for this vote
and these arrows are one meter apart and
you're required to stand on these arrows
as you cue to get into the polling
station now I stood by the door for a
while and there was the occasional
moment from staff telling these people
hey get back on your arrow as you're
getting too close to each other but
by and large people have been following
the directions closely the temperatures
are checked you sanitize your hands then
you put on gloves then you get your
ballot and you cast your vote then
you're out toss the gloves back on the
street the process has been fairly
seamless so far people have been polite
cordial and patient as they wait to vote
despite this epidemic here in South
Korea remains a huge factor in these
elections no doubt will president moon
jae-in's ruling Democratic Party of
Korea get a boost from the government's
Swift response to the pandemic or will
it be on the back foot over its handling
of the economy well those are the two
key election issues right now kovat 19
and the economy moon jae-in if anything
is is lucky to an extent that the
election is coming right now in the
country has been able to pull it off
because by and large his government has
received a positive response from the
public over its handling of the corona
virus outbreak here so he really wants
the public to vote their confidence in
his government at the polls today based
on how they've reacted to kovat 19 at
the same time yeah the economy like I
said a key issue the economy was
sluggish before kovat 19 so you can't
put it all on the corona virus outbreak
for small businesses closing it and
other issues here with work so moon is
going to face a challenge in that and
the opposition party is really gonna
blast him saying moon screwed up the
economy for kovat 19 he didn't shut down
the borders with China which led to the
outbreak here in the first place further
hurting the economy so a lot of experts
are saying it's gonna be close based on
those two issues you know let's now
focus on those issues that are
dominating the selection you just
mentioned two very crucial ones beard
women's safety or the rights of the
North Koreans stuff north of the DMZ
what are the key issues now dominating
these elections apart from the ones you
mentioned and Cooke the regional parties
or the smaller players also play a
crucial role well North Korea is always
going to be an issue to some extent
during an election right now obviously a
bit on the back burner when you see the
corona virus outbreak here as well as a
struggling economy
but the opposition party is probably
also going to take an opportunity to
attack moon for what has been by and
large and unsuccessful event - to
negotiate with the North Koreans and
lead to any kind of breakdown of their
nuclear program or any kind of business
across the border so they will certainly
needle the the ruling party for that but
it's really going to fall to the economy
and and to the to the coronavirus
response more broadly health care here
in South Korea is always a key issue
the Koreans typically hold their
government accountable to maintain a
high standard of care and they've seen
that throughout this outbreak so that'll
bode well for the ruling party
absolutely and in fact they're being
lauded at the global stage as far as
South Korea's response is concerned
towards coronavirus now last but not the
least loose this election is also being
touted as a referendum on the reforms
recently passed in South Korea these
electoral reforms are giving the
eighteen-year-olds the right to vote for
the very first time could these 18 year
olds prove to be the deal breaker since
they young are quite fed up of
inequality and the wage gap this would
certainly be an opportunity for them to
to take their voices to vote on those
issues especially considering the high
youth unemployment rate here but we
won't know exactly the demographic
turnout for these elections for at least
probably 24 hours based on the early
voting that took place last Friday and
Saturday to try and thin the lines here
on Wednesday we saw an extremely high
turnout and part of that could have been
the young vote a lot of young people
right now throughout the corona virus
outbreak have perhaps been less
responsive to the government's measures
when it comes to social distancing as
well as hygiene and that's you know
based on the fact that 27 percent of
cases here are linked to people in their
20s and younger so it's unclear how keen
they are to support moon jae-in in this
initiative to boost his party ahead of a
next presidential election but they
certainly have an opportunity they
didn't before in a country that
struggles with finding young people jobs
and getting their voices heard
right we already been told that 11
million people have already cast their
vote let's hope South Koreans actually
turn up in full force to elect their new
government on that note thank you so
much Bruce for bringing us all those
details live from Seoul
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