U.S. President Donald Trump announced on the 31st (local time) on Truth Social that "voter identification should be required for every vote. No exceptions," adding, "I will issue an executive order to that effect." / Yonhap News 

It remains to be seen whether all future U.S. elections will require voters to present identification (ID) to participate. 

Currently, in some U.S. states, due to Democratic state governments in power or in the past, voters are allowed to participate in elections without presenting identification. 

This has long been cited as a cause of controversy over election fraud, and voices demanding improvement have been incessant. 

In particular, during the Biden administration, the dismantling of the border wall and policies for the large-scale acceptance of refugees from South America were strongly criticized by conservatives as calculated moves to secure the Democratic base. 

The situation in the United States shows similarities with some cases in South Korea. 

In August 2005, the Roh Moo-hyun administration and the Uri Party (the predecessor to the Democratic Party of Korea) amended the Public Official Election Act, granting the right to vote in local elections to foreigners, including Chinese nationals, who met certain residency requirements. However, this faced strong backlash from conservative factions, who argued it violated the principle of reciprocity since China does not grant voting rights to Koreans residing in China. 

Indeed, in the 2022 local elections, analyses suggested that voters of Chinese nationality held the "casting vote," and in by-elections, Chinese nationals accounted for approximately 110,000 out of about 140,000 foreign voters. 

In the U.S., the perception that the political leanings of newly arrived populations, such as refugees, could undermine the fairness of elections is rapidly spreading, and voices calling for mandatory voter identification are gaining momentum, primarily from Republicans and conservative organizations. 

Amidst this, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he plans to issue an executive order soon requiring voter identification for all votes. 

On the 31st (local time), Trump posted on Truth Social, "voter identification should be required for every vote. No exceptions," and stated, "I will issue an executive order to that effect." 

He continued, "Except for very sick people or soldiers who are far away, mail-in voting is not allowed. Please use paper ballots only," he wrote. 

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However, according to media reports including Newsmax, significant challenges are anticipated before Trump's plan can be fully implemented. 

The broadcast reported that considering the division of powers between the federal and state governments in the U.S., the president's constitutional authority to enact or amend state election laws is not clear. 

Ahead of the midterm elections on November 3rd next year, which will be the first nationwide elections since the launch of Trump's second administration, the Democratic Party is expected to strongly resist to overcome the current situation where Republicans hold a majority in the federal Senate and House, and to thwart the Trump administration's plans. 

Since before his second inauguration, President Trump has consistently emphasized the need to suspend the use of electronic voting and counting machines and introduce paper ballots with a full manual count for several years.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. presidential election held last year, the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris showed an advantage in several areas where identification checks were insufficient, and Chinese international students were caught voting by falsely claiming to be U.S. citizens. This led to a widespread public demand in the U.S. to require the presentation of government-issued photo IDs and to verify their consistency with the voter registry.