Left-leaning former lawyer set to be voted in by electorate galvanised by anger over corruption scandal that brought down Park Geun-hye

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

South Koreans have gone to the polls to choose a new president after Park Geun-hye was ousted and indicted for corruption, against a backdrop of high tensions with the North.

Voters are galvanised by anger over the sprawling bribery and abuse of power scandal that brought down Park and catalysed frustrations over jobs and slowing growth.

Left-leaning Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyer, has held a commanding lead in opinion polls for months. The final Gallup Korea survey of the campaign put him on 38%, ahead of technology entrepreneur Ahn Cheol-soo with 20%.

Moon Jae-in, the South Korean pragmatist who would be president Read more

After casting his vote, Moon said: “I feel the people’s strong will to change the government … We can make it a reality only when we vote.”

Hong Joon-pyo of Park’s Liberty Korea party, who the opinion poll had in third place on 16%, out of a field of 13, urged voters to support him and called Moon a “pro-Pyongyang leftist”.

A record turnout was expected, with 63.7% of voters casting their ballots four hours before the polls closed, compared with 59.3% at the same point five years ago.

Kim Sun-chul, 59, said he voted for Moon because “this country needs to restore democracy, which has been so undermined by the Park government”.

National elections are public holidays in South Korea and nearly 14,000 voting stations opened at 6am local time on Tuesday (2200 BST on Monday). Exit poll results will be available immediately after voting closes at 8pm.

The campaign has focused largely on the economy, with North Korea less prominent. But after a decade of conservative rule, a Moon victory could lead to a sea change in Seoul’s approach towards Pyongyang and Washington, a key ally.

Moon, 64, who is accused by his critics of being soft on the North, has advocated dialogue to ease tensions and bring Pyongyang towards negotiations. He is seen as favouring more independence in relations with the US, Seoul’s security guarantor, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea.

Their presence, he told reporters during the campaign, was “important not only to our own security, but also to the global strategy of the US”.

What were the issues in the South Korean election? Despite tensions running high with the North, the campaign focused largely on the economy and the bribery and abuse of power scandal that brought down Moon Jae-in's predecessor, Park Geun-hye. The Park scandal played into frustration over widening inequality in wealth and opportunities. South Korea enjoyed rapid growth from the 1970s-90s, but the rate slowed as the economy matured, and unemployment among under-30s now stands at a record 10%. Voter anger was often directed at chaebols, the massive, family-run conglomerates that dominate the economy and are seen by many as exemplifying a cosy relationship between business and government.

North Korea has carried out two nuclear tests and a series of missile launches since the start of 2016 in its quest to develop a missile capable of firing a nuclear warhead as far as the US mainland.

Washington said last month that military action is an option, triggering fears of a major conflict.

More recently, the US president, Donald Trump, has softened his message, saying he would be “honoured” to meet the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un.

Moon has also said he would be willing to visit Pyongyang to meet Kim and advocates the resumption of some of the inter-Korean projects closed by politicians in the South, including the Kaesong industrial zone.

In Seoul’s prosperous Seocho district, Dr Chung Tae-ean, 72, backed Moon’s conservative opponent Hong, saying “security is the most important thing”.

But for many South Korean voters, corruption, slowing growth, unemployment and air pollution from China top the list of concerns.



South Korea’s rapid growth from the 1970s-90s pulled the war-ravaged state out of poverty, but the rate slowed as the economy matured. Unemployment among under-30s now stands at a record 10%.

Frustration over widening inequality in wealth and opportunities fuelled anger over the Park scandal, which exposed the cosy and corrupt ties between regulators and chaebols (family owned conglomerates) that have endured for decades.

Why was Park impeached? Park Geun-hye is the most prominent figure in a wide-ranging corruption and cronyism scandal. She and her longtime confidante, Choi Soon-sil, are accused of conspiring to pressure companies, including Samsung, to donate large sums to two nonprofit foundations Choi set up. Choi is accused of using the money for personal gain, which she denies. Park admitted behaving “naively”, but denies coercing companies.

Park is also accused of giving Choi unlawful access to state affairs and and allowing her to influence policy, including Seoul’s stance on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.

Park is awaiting trial accused of offering governmental favours to leading businesspeople, including the Samsung heir, Lee Jae-yong, who allegedly bribed her secret confidante Choi Soon-sil.

Moon, Ahn and other candidates have promised to reform the chaebols, which dominate the economy and have long been criticised for operating with little scrutiny.

Another issue is relations with Beijing, which imposed a series of measures seen as economic retaliation over the deployment of the US anti-missile system Thaad in the South.

In an election day editorial, the JoongAng daily said South Korea had been left adrift by the “acute division and lack of national leadership” stemming from the corruption scandal and Park’s impeachment. The vote, it said, was a “great opportunity to put the troubled nation back on track”.