South Koreans Vote in Close Presidential Contest

SEOUL—South Koreans went to the polls Wednesday in a tight vote to choose a new president, the sixth since the country adopted a democratic constitution in 1987.

Enlarge Image

EPA
Voters have their identities checked to cast their ballots at a polling station Wednesday in the southwestern city of Jeonju, South Korea.

The latest polls showed a tossup between conservative Park Geun-hye and liberal Moon Jae-in, the two major candidates with deep ties to previous leaders. Mr. Moon narrowed Ms. Park's lead with a stronger performance in three debates earlier this month.

The winner will face critical challenges. South Korea, a key ally of the U.S., shares a border with a nuclear-armed North Korea. Its economy. among the strongest in Asia, is slowing, while the country's aging population is pushing welfare costs.

Ms. Park, the daughter of former South Korean president Park Chung-hee, has been considered the front-runner in this year's election since losing the conservative party's nomination in the 2007 to current President Lee Myung-bak.


Reuters
South Korea presidential candidate Park Geun-hye, left, greets supporters Tuesday at a railway station in Busan. Her rival, Moon Jae-in,attends a campaign rally in Seoul. The election Wednesday will shape the country in the next five years.

Mr. Moon, a chief of staff to the last liberal President Roh Moo-hyun, entered electoral politics earlier this year by winning a parliamentary seat. He then prevailed in a monthlong presidential primary and over a popular university professor with liberal leanings who tried to push him aside and acquire the backing of Mr. Moon's Democratic United Party.

The professor, Ahn Cheol-soo, shaped much of the political discussion both before and after he officially got into the race in September. Mr. Ahn's proposals forced both Ms. Park and Mr. Moon to take more centrist positions on issues ranging from welfare policies to how they would deal with North Korea.

"There was no mega-issue" in the campaign, said Park Sung-Min, president of Min Consulting, a political consulting firm in Seoul. "Ahn Cheol-soo was the only issue."

Read More

Candidate Park Reaches Out to Father's Foes for Help
Mr. Ahn abruptly pulled out of the race on Nov. 23, just before a registration deadline for government financing that would have required him to stay on the ballot, potentially drawing supporters from Mr. Moon.

In the weeks since his exit, Mr. Ahn provided some backing for Mr. Moon, making several appearances with him and on his behalf over the last two weeks.

During the official campaign period that began Nov. 27, Ms. Park and Mr. Moon and their aides crisscrossed the nation to speak to voters in quick appearances, as many as a dozen a day with some lasting just 15 minutes.

They offered hundreds of pledges for new welfare programs and regulations. But they were widely seen as lacking the charisma of the presidents seen as transformative in South Korean history, including Ms. Park's father and Kim Dae-jung, a democracy activist who used his presidency from 1998 to 2003 to pull the country out of an economic crisis and open dealings with North Korea.

Chae Su-Chan, a university economist and former member of parliament, said the next president will need to address the weakening economy and lack of opportunity that is visible in both statistical data and the anxiety expressed by recent college graduates and other young adults.

"If either one meets this challenge, then they will be seen as a transformer," Mr. Chae said. But I don't see that from what they've said."

Ms. Park and Mr. Moon are running for a single, five-year term in a presidency that wields vast authority over the broader government. The South Korean president, in addition to choosing the leaders of government ministries, controls its $300 billion annual budget, commands a 600,000-person military, appoints the chiefs of approximately 400 state-run companies and proposes about 90 % of the legislation taken up by the elected members of parliament.

The trend of a rapidly-aging populace appeared to favor Ms. Park. When Mr. Roh was elected 10 years ago, younger voters in their 20s and 30s who tend to support liberals accounted for 49% of the population. This year, they accounted for 38%.

Meanwhile, older voters in their 50s and 60s who tend to support conservatives amounted to 39% of the population, up from 29% in the 2002 vote.

The number of potential voters aged 19 and over was 40.4 million, the highest ever. Voter turnout has trended downward since the 1987 election, when 92% of eligible voters participated. In the last election in 2007, 63% of eligible voters cast a ballot. Before Wednesday's vote, election officials predicted turnout would reach 70%.

Polls close at around 6 p.m. local time, with results likely a few hours later.