Voting is coming to an end...What is the atmosphere in the U.S. where votes are being counted?

■ Host: Lee Se-na, anchor Na Kyung-chul, anchor
■ Starring: Kim Dong-seok, representative of the Korean Voters Association,

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN New Square 2PM] when quoting.

[Anchor]
With the counting of votes continuing, the main vote is now nearing its end. In a little while, at 3 p.m. our time, 25 hours of relay voting will end in Alaska. While the joys and sorrows of winning and losing are already mixed in the states where the vote was counted early, fierce vote battles are in full swing in the competing states. This time, we will find out by connecting the local atmosphere in the United States. Kim Dong-seok, CEO of the Korean American Voters Association, is connected. Mr. Kim, how are you?

[Kim Dong-seok]
Hello,

[Anchor]
CEO, first of all, which part of the United States are you in now and what is your local time?

[Kim Dong-seok]
It's almost midnight. [Voiceover] I'm in the eastern part of New Jersey, south of New Jersey. Today, the second generation of Korean descent as a New Jersey senator, Andy Kim, just gave his election speech and just broke up. It's there.

[Anchor]
Many people are watching the vote counting broadcast while staying up all night, and our representative must be watching the vote counting broadcast. How do you rate the overall situation so far?

[Kim Dong-seok]
I don't think it's difficult. The key was Pennsylvania, but now the vote count shows that Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, when you look at the vote count, are going to make you think, "You're going to be the 47th president, Trump." And even though we have to calculate the rest of the votes, this election is a big country, but we're spending this election day looking at Pennsylvania's votes because it's a very complicated place to win and lose.

[Anchor]
You have delivered the local atmosphere that Trump is expected to win in major competition states, and I heard that you have already experienced seven U.S. presidential elections. What was the atmosphere of this presidential election compared to the previous ones?

[Kim Dong-seok]
There were a lot of things that didn't happen before. In our eyes, it wasn't very comfortable to see a candidate who was once accused of a crime as a president, who was nominated again, and then shot in a shooting, and then a sitting presidential candidate resigned, and even more so in the process of coming into American politics from outside of this Trump political circle and turning these ideological groups in the general society into political power. That's why, in all my previous elections, I've never experienced such high interest in elections and such high enthusiasm.

And this kind of interest becomes very nervous and tense, and I visited four polling stations today, and there were so many boundaries that it was difficult for voters to vote comfortably, there were police, and because it was election day, government offices were also on high alert. Looking at this, it's my first time experiencing an election like this, and for that reason, I expect the turnout to be higher than ever before, almost reaching the level of four years ago.

[Anchor]
So, it was a presidential election that I experienced for the first time, and he also delivered a very tense atmosphere at a polling place. In an earlier media interview, he defined the presidential election as a dispute between Trump and non-Trump forces. Why do you think so?

[Kim Dong-seok]
When Trump became a Republican candidate a year ago, a person named Trump became a candidate in the Republican Party and competed with the Democratic Party as a political force called the Republican Party to become president. I went to the Republican National Convention last July and saw that there were not many traditional Republicans. Trump has taken full control of the Republican Party.

So, not these conservative politicians, the Republican Party, but much more right-wing forces came in and dominated the Republican Party. In a way, it was not an election between Democrats, Republicans, and these political forces, but rather between Trump and Trump, the most Republican politicians who were not Republicans declared their support for Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party and held the election together. That's why this election was a confrontation between Trump and non-Trump social forces, in other words, between the Maga movement, which is Trump's slogan, and ordinary civil society that is not.

[Anchor]
Earlier, there was a comment that it was a fight between Shy Trump or Hidden Harris in relation to this election. Looking at the results of the vote count so far, there were more Shy Trumps, can I think about it now? How do you see it?

[Kim Dong-seok]
We'll see if there was a part of Shy Trump or not. You mentioned Hidden Harris now, but as a sudden survey in Iowa concluded that it was not, isn't it true that there were some unknown supporters on Harris' side? However, in the process of polling approval ratings through this election, it was found that Shy Trump was still present.

When asked by Republican supporters who they voted for four years ago, about 40% said they voted for Trump, but since Trump won 48 or 49% of the votes, I guess there are hidden Trump supporters in the U.S. who support Trump.

[Anchor]
The election method in the United States is a little different from ours, so I don't understand it. Above all, there are areas where voting is still underway, and how should we look at the results of the vote count already being disclosed?

[Kim Dong-seok]
Whenever a presidential election is held, the vote is counted like this, but in the United States before the total count is completely over, if the loser just loses, it just comes to a conclusion. That's why if you look at the vote count now, you can just conclude the election if you reach the destination of who will exceed the 270 electors, so Senator Andy Kim of the Republic of Korea has just been born, and the loser lost. That's why the election in the U.S. started and came to a conclusion like this, just as Andy spent time with his supporters by coming and winning.

[Anchor]
When we talk about the U.S. presidential election, we talk a lot about the red mirage, especially when we talk about the state of the vote counting. Even now, as the vote count is moving beyond the middle, Republicans are getting more dominant results, what do you think about the possibility that Democrats will get more favorable results toward the second half of the vote count?

[Kim Dong-seok]
It's often possible that it's going to the second half of the vote, and because things that haven't been opened yet, uncalculated mail-in ballots and other methods have not yet been counted, votes are often flocked to the Democratic Party. But other than that, since the U.S. is a large country, voting begins in the East first and the West is voting, and Georgia and North Carolina have just won votes, and these results affect votes in the West, which is why there is wind and flow, and this is a mirage.

[Anchor]
We have to wait until the end to see how the results of the competition will come out. In this presidential election, if there is a part that has had the greatest impact on moderate voters and rival voters, what can you name?

[Kim Dong-seok]
Looking at the results of the vote count now, a large number of voters voted on economic issues. Many voters thought that the economic problem was better during the Trump era, and then the Biden administration did not do much to achieve anything economically for citizens. So when Kamala Harris suddenly became the nominee, I was Biden's vice president, but it's not Biden's second term that I'm president. So there was a lot of public opinion about whether it would be hard if we didn't show differences in economic issues with Biden. In the end, it seems that the majority of voters evaluated it and went to the polls.

[Anchor]
In Pennsylvania, which was one of the major contenders, we need to look at the vote count now.Ma was very noisy until the end of the election due to the controversy over his trash island remarks. Did it become a variable that influenced last-minute voter turnout, what do you think?

[Kim Dong-seok]
In fact, just one more day, two more days inside the Democratic Harris camp. There is absolutely no time. About three days before the end, Harris' rise was detected in swing areas in the Gyeongsang provinces. In the meantime, the results of the Iowa poll were very encouraging, and experts are reading that Harris' last-minute rise stops here on election day.

[Anchor]
At the same time as the U.S. presidential election, the House and Senate elections are being held. A three-term New Jersey Democrat. Hasn't Rep. Andy Kim been elected to the Senate? It's very good news. How's the atmosphere?

[Kim Dong-seok]
The Korean community is a great slope. In the 120-year history of immigration, I think that this is a great achievement, and that Koreans in the United States are competent. I just met and shared how I felt about being elected today, and I'm in my early 40s. Because he is recognized for his ability and somehow gets recognized for breaking down vested politics and turning it into a political force with his own power, he will continue to be a strong politician in the United States for a long time to come.

In any case, the Korean community in the United States finally has the second generation of Korean descent in the Senate and there are still Korean lawmakers in the House of Representatives. Unlike before, Koreans have political power and live by creating a really great power in the United States. The biggest event of the 2024 election is Andy Kim's election as a senator, I'm proud to say this.

[Anchor]
In particular, I think it's the biggest event in the Korean community, but I understand that the CEO has also actively helped Representative Andy Kim's political activities. How did you help?

[Kim Dong-seok]
In 2018, Andy will run for the first time in the southern district of New Jersey, where he will be elected to the House of Representatives. Politics in the U.S. When you first start, America is actually an elected campaign that first raises money. When Andy Kim first started politics, he declared that he would not accept money from companies, from interests. This has to be handled by his election in civil society.

It is the representative of citizens because they rely on the money they voluntarily pay, and because they started like this, Koreans have to pay for the seed money because they are the second generation of Koreans. From the beginning, I was implicated in this part, and after going through the three-term House of Representatives, I had an opportunity to challenge the Senate, and I've been working together with Andy Kim for eight years now, and I'm very proud of it. It's a huge thing and I'm proud of it because I've experienced for a long time what the power of one Senate is like in Washington.

[Anchor]
Many people are happy and proud to hear the news here in Korea. I think it's Vice President Harris who is more supported by Korean voters. What do you think? Do you have a split opinion?

[Kim Dong-seok]
It's up to individuals to decide which candidate they support and which candidate they like more, but what has been evident in the 2024 presidential election is that the number of multi-ethnic and people of color has increased, and white people are increasingly flocking and shrinking, and this phenomenon has been noticeable. So in the process of creating the same level of citizenship as more non-white people have long thought of the United States as their own country and only white people, these opinions that white people do not want to allow it at the end came out, showing white supremacy and seeing racism, so from the perspective of the community, the Democratic Party's policy, Kamala Harris is clearly the president of the United States compared to Trump.

[Anchor]
Since the counting of votes has not been completed yet, I think we will have to wait and see the results until the end. So far, we have connected Kim Dong-seok, CEO of the Korean-American Voters Association, to find out the atmosphere in the U.S. ahead of the end of the vote. Mr. President, thank you for your words.

[Kim Dong-seok]
Thank you.