Online portals and media are gearing up for the presidential election on Dec. 19.

Firms such as SK Communications and Daum recently introduced their respective websites presenting news on the presidential candidates.

The National Election Commission also approved the use of the Internet and social networking services for the candidates’ election campaigns.

SK Communications, which runs the online portal Nate, said Tuesday that it launched a special webpage for the 18th presidential election focusing on news, public opinion polls and issues regarding the three candidates ― Rep. Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party, Rep. Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party and independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo.

“Since many online participants are interested in the upcoming election, we will work to offer objective data on our specially designed website,” said Jeong Jae-yeop of SK Communications.

SK Communications followed rival online portal Daum, which last Friday unveiled a special campaign info page on its site.

Daum’s portal also gives insights into past presidential elections to help voters make their voting decision.

The firm also features a service introducing the core of each candidate’s speeches so prospective voters can assess the stances of the candidates, such as Moon’s pledge to increase jobs and Park’s position on the controversial Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation.

“We’re planning to encourage voters’ participation by launching a campaign through which they can freely post and express their opinions,” said Kim Young-chae, head of the media unit at Daum.

Both Daum and SK Communications will update their new pages ahead of the December elections.

In the meantime, Ustream Korea, a live video-streaming platform, and Pandora TV last Friday staged a live broadcast of the town hall meeting with Ahn Cheol-soo and Korean nationals living outside the country.

Throughout the one-hour event, Ahn communicated with participants in countries including the U.S., China, Japan, the U.K. and Australia through social networking platforms such as Twitter as well as video calls.

“I think this just proves that the online services, which include SNS, will play a major role in the upcoming presidential election as it did in the previous nationwide elections,” said Lee Ji-young, a prospective voter who watched the town hall meeting online.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)