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Over 44.6 million people eligible to vote in June 3 elections

South Korea’s interior ministry reports that more than 44.6 million people are eligible to vote in the June 3 local elections, up over 340,000 from 2022. The number of foreign voters has reached an all-time high of 151,532, though turnout among this group has declined.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage May 23–27, 2026 Published Aug 15

Lead

More than 44.6 million people will be eligible to vote in South Korea’s upcoming June 3 local elections, according to the interior ministry. The figure marks an increase of over 340,000 compared with the previous local elections in 2022. The nationwide vote will select mayors, governors, education superintendents, and chiefs of smaller administrative units across 16 metropolitan cities and provinces.

Coverage Comparison

Two reports from Yonhap News Agency provide the details. One, published on May 23, focuses on the overall electorate and the interior ministry’s data. The other, dated May 27, highlights the record-high number of foreign voters, drawing on figures from the National Election Commission and the interior ministry. Both reports describe the same underlying facts, with the later article adding historical context on foreign voting rights.

Key Claims

According to the interior ministry, of the 44,649,908 eligible voters, some 44.4 million are South Koreans residing in the country. The remaining eligible voters include 89,151 overseas residents and 151,532 foreigners.

The number of foreign nationals eligible to vote has reached an all-time high, rising by 18.7 percent—or 23,909 people—from the 2022 elections, as reported by Yonhap. This year’s figure is about 22.5 times the 2006 level, when foreign nationals first gained the right to vote in local elections under the Public Official Election Act. At that time, only 6,726 foreign voters were eligible. The number grew to 12,878 in 2010, 48,428 in 2014, and surpassed 100,000 for the first time in 2018, reaching 106,205.

The share of foreign voters in the total electorate has risen steadily, from 0.02 percent in 2006 to 0.03 percent in 2010, 0.12 percent in 2014, 0.25 percent in 2018, and 0.29 percent in 2022. This year, it is at an all-time high of 0.34 percent.

Despite the sharp increase in the number of foreign voters, turnout among them has declined or remained largely stagnant. According to the government data, turnout for foreign voters fell from 35.2 percent in 2010 to 17.6 percent in 2014, 13.5 percent in 2018, and 13.3 percent in 2022.

Foreign nationals are not eligible to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections, as noted in both Yonhap reports.

Early voting will take place on May 29 and 30, ahead of the main vote on June 3.

By age group, those in their 50s make up the largest share of eligible voters, at more than 8.63 million, or 19.34 percent of the total. By region, Gyeonggi Province has the most voters with 11.9 million (26.6 percent), followed by Seoul with 8.3 million (18.63 percent) and Busan with 2.86 million (6.4 percent).

The number of eligible voters for parliamentary by-elections, which will be held concurrently in 14 districts, stands at 2.63 million.

How this outlet told it

Yonhap News — English as of May 23, 2026, 11:30 AM UTC

Framing: Neutral, focusing on the overall voter eligibility — Informative

Facts Included:

More than 44.6 million people are eligible to vote in the June 3 local elections
The number of eligible voters has increased by over 340,000 from the previous elections in 2022
The elections will be held to pick mayors and governors of 16 metropolitan cities and provinces
There are 89,151 overseas residents and 151,532 foreigners eligible to vote
The number of voters with foreign nationality has multiplied by 3.13 times since the 2014 local elections
Early voting will take place on May 29 and 30, before the main vote on June 3

Read the source article →

Yonhap News — English as of May 27, 2026, 7:31 AM UTC

Framing: Focus on the increase in foreign voter eligibility — Informative

Facts Included:

The number of foreigners eligible to vote in the June 3 local elections has risen to an all-time high of over 150,000
Foreign nationals eligible to vote have increased by 18.7 percent from the previous local elections in 2022
Foreign voters first gained the right to vote in local elections in 2006
The share of foreign voters in the total electorate has risen steadily since 2006
The voter turnout for foreigners has declined or remained largely stagnant

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimMore than 44.6 million people are eligible to vote in the June 3 local elections. The number of eligible voters has increased by over 340,000 from the previous elections in 2022.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of May 23, 2026, 11:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe elections will be held to pick mayors and governors of 16 metropolitan cities and provinces.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of May 23, 2026, 11:30 AM UTC
ClaimThere are 89,151 overseas residents and 151,532 foreigners eligible to vote.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of May 23, 2026, 11:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe number of voters with foreign nationality has multiplied by 3.13 times since the 2014 local elections.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of May 23, 2026, 11:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe number of foreign voters has risen by 18.7 percent from the previous local elections in 2022.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of May 27, 2026, 7:31 AM UTC
ClaimForeign nationals first gained the right to vote in local elections in 2006.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of May 27, 2026, 7:31 AM UTC
ClaimThe share of foreign voters in the total electorate has risen steadily since 2006.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of May 27, 2026, 7:31 AM UTC
ClaimThe voter turnout for foreigners has declined or remained largely stagnant.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of May 27, 2026, 7:31 AM UTC
ClaimEarly voting will take place on May 29 and 30, before the main vote on June 3.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of May 23, 2026, 11:30 AM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

1 outlet · 2 articles consulted: Yonhap News — English 9 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-15