South Koreans vote for new president in tight, bitter election

South Koreans were voting for a new president Wednesday, with a liberal ruling party candidate considered a maverick and a conservative former prosecutor considered the favourites in a tight race that has aggravated the country's domestic divisions.

Pre-election surveys showed liberal Lee Jae-myung, a former governor of South Korea's most populous Gyeonggi province, and his main conservative challenger, ex-prosecutor general Yoon Suk Yeol, running neck-and-neck, way ahead of 10 other contenders.

The wining candidate will take office in May and serve a single five-year term as leader of the world's 10th largest economy.

Lee and Yoon conducted one of the most bitter political campaigns in recent memory. Both recently agreed that if they won they would not conduct politically motivated investigations against the other, but many believe the losing candidate could still face criminal probes over some of the scandals they're been implicated in.

 

Critics say neither candidate has presented a clear strategy on how they would ease the threat from North Korea and its nuclear weapons. They also say voters are skeptical about how both would handle international relations amid the ongoing US-China rivalry and how they would address widening economic inequalities and runway housing prices.

"Despite the significance of this year's election, the race has centered too much on negative campaigning," said Jang Seung-Jin, a professor at Seoul's Kookmin University, adding that neither leading candidate laid out a convincing blueprint on how they would lead South Korea.

The election comes as South Korea has been grappling with an omicron-driven COVID-19 surge. Virus patients were to vote after regular voting ends Wednesday evening.

Ahead of the vote, Jeong Eun-yeong, a 48-year-old Seoul resident, said she was agonizing over which candidate is "the lesser of two evils".

"Nobody around me seems happy about voting" for either Lee or Yoon, she said. "We need a leader who would be really devoted to improving the lives of working-class citizens."

While both Lee and Yoon share some similar economic and welfare policies, they've clashed over North Korea and other foreign policy issues.

Lee, who has often expressed nationalistic views, calls for exemptions to UN sanctions so that dormant inter-Korean economic projects can be revived, and hopes to play a mediator's role between Pyongyang and Washington over the North Korean nuclear crisis.

Yoon, for his part, says he would sternly deal with North Korean provocations and seek to boost a trilateral security cooperation with Washington and Tokyo.

On a confrontation between Washington, Seoul's top military ally, and Beijing, its biggest trading partner, Lee says picking a side would pose a greater security threat to South Korea. Yoon wants to place a priority on an enhanced alliance with the US.

After North Korea's latest reported ballistic missile launch Saturday, Yoon accused North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of trying to influence the results of the South Korean election in favor of Lee.

"I would (teach) him some manners and make him come to his senses completely," Yoon told a rally near Seoul.

Lee wrote on Facebook that he would push for a diplomatic solution to North Korean nuclear tensions but won't tolerate any act that would raise animosity.

South Korea's constitution limits a president to a single five-year term, so Lee's party colleague and current President Moon Jae-in cannot seek a reelection. Moon came to power in 2017 after conservative President Park Geun-hye was impeached and ousted from office over a huge corruption scandal.

With conservatives initially in shambles after Park's fall, Moon's approval rating at one point hit 83% as he pushed hard to achieve reconciliation with North Korea and delve into alleged corruption by past conservative leaders. But he eventually faced a strong conservative backlash as talks on North Korea's nuclear program produced little progress and his anti-corruption drive raised questions of fairness.

Yoon previously served as Moon's prosecutor general, but resigned and joined the opposition last year following infighting over probes of Moon's allies. Yoon said those investigations were objective and principled, but Moon's supporters said he was trying to thwart Moon's prosecution reforms and elevate his own political standing.

Yoon's critics have also attacked him over a lack of experience in party politics, foreign policy and other key state affairs. Yoon has responded he would let experienced officials handle state affairs that require expertise.

Lee, a former human rights lawyer who entered local politics in 2005, has established an image as a tough-speaking, anti-elitist who can get things done and fix establishment politics. But his opponents call him a dangerous populist relying on divisions and demonizing opponents.

Yoon has launched a political offensive on Lee over allegations that Lee is a key figure in a corrupt land development project launched in the city of Seongnam when he was mayor there. Lee has tried to link Yoon to that scandal. Both of their wives have offered public apologies over separate scandals.

Whoever wins will likely struggle to bridge conservatives-liberal divisions, some experts say.