Mr.Notice's blog

A congratulatory event for the election of the US president was also held in the virtual world, Second Life.

Yesterday, on November 5, an event to congratulate the election of the US president was held in Second Life, a virtual reality world.

Kang Hyun-woo, the head of Second Life in South Korea and owner of Joywindkorea, was in charge of planning the recent event, and stated that the event was held as netizens in Korea showed great interest in the US presidential election and in order to enhance friendly relations between South Korea and the US.

Moreover, he remarked that the two countries have profound and close relations not only in military and diplomatic ties but also in various fields, and forecasted that the friendly relations between South Korea and the US will not change after the US presidential election.

In the cyber event, held from 21:00 to 22:00 on November 5, approximately 120 netizens from overseas as well as South Korea took part, and the event began with an opening speech that was given by the avatar of President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea.

President Lee stated that he hoped with the election of a president that the American people had desired, the current financial crisis suffered globally will be resolved and the US will enjoy an even more peaceful era.

Also, at an outdoor auditorium located within Korea Town of the virtual world, an event which revived the whole process of the US presidential election was held.

At the campaign venue, the avatars of both presidential candidates, Obama and McCain, appeared and announced their election pledges and had a heated discussion in the presidential candidates' debate on various pending issues.

Afterwards, the residents of Second Life made virtual votes.

The result was 21% : 2%, with Obama receiving support that greatly exceeded support for McCain.

After the vote ended, President-elect Obama gave his acceptance speech and had a Q&A session on the future directions of national administration with the netizens.

Also, a lotto drawing was conducted among participants of the event.

Meanwhile, a personnel from KoreanBlog.com, a famous blog site in South Korea which sponsored the recent event, gave the closing speech and expressed his sincere hopes for the US to successfully overcome the current global financial crisis by voting for the candidate that the American people truly wants to elect as president.

In particular, he remarked that he hoped the bilateral relations between South Korea and the US, which was restored after the Lee Myung-bak administration, would develop even further in a win-win direction.

In addition, a personnel from the US division of Second Life said that the virtual world is now expanding into a new social space, and went on to predict that it won't be long before the virtual world will be recognized as the 51st state, enabling its residents to directly take part in voting for the US president just as the other 50 states.