Seoul, South Korea - South Koreans cast their vote for a new president on Wednesday, ending a campaign marked by high-profile corruption allegations and bitter personal attacks.
The Liberal candidate, former provincial governor Lee Jae-myung, and his conservative rival, former prosecutor Yoon Seok-yul, are locked in a tight race.
He is competing to replace outgoing President Moon Jae-in, who has been constitutionally barred from running for a second five-year term.
South Korea has no shortage of urgent issues, including skyrocketing housing prices, high youth unemployment and a pandemic-induced economic slowdown.
But the debate on those issues has been marred by a heated argument between the two candidates, which many observers say has reached unprecedented levels.
Political commentator and author Kim Min-ha said, "Unlike in the past, when there was a fight for a cause or an ideology, this campaign has focused more on personal attacks." "It's said to be the worst election ever."
Both candidates are extremely unpopular, with opinion polls showing that many media outlets have referred to the race as "the election of the adversary".
But this may not affect the voting. As of 3 p.m. local time, 68% of registered voters had cast their vote. This is a 4 percent increase from the same time during the last presidential election in 2017.
“I didn’t like the top two candidates. As I watched the news coverage, I realized that it was not only me who felt this way,” said Mrs. Kang, a 55-year-old voter in Seoul. He voted anyway, saying it was not appropriate to stay at home.
Shin So-yeon, a 44-year-old voter from Seoul, said she thinks there is too much division in Korea. She says she wants to focus more on the economy. "Common people are suffering because of COVID-19, so I think that is the biggest problem to solve."
Many polling stations in Seoul were not overcrowded until noon. This may be because a record 37% took advantage of early voting.
Polling closed at 6 pm For regular voters, Kovid-19 patients and people living in quarantine can vote from 6 pm. The winner is not expected to be announced until early Thursday at 7:30 p.m., as the race is seen as one of the closest in South Korean history.
The election comes as South Korea experiences an explosion of coronavirus cases due to the highly permeable Omicron variant. On Wednesday, the country reported nearly 340,000 infections - a record.
However, South Korea's COVID-19 mortality rate is much lower than that of other developed countries. Officials expect cases to peak later this month and have already begun loosening social distancing guidelines in a shift towards living with the virus.
Candidates offer different approaches to dealing with the economic aspects of the pandemic. Lee prefers a larger government approach, promising a pandemic cash handout for all as part of his ultimate goal of implementing a system of universal basic income. Yoon supports more targeted economic stimulus packages and warns of excessive national debt.
On foreign policy, Lee has vowed to continue Moon's access to North Korea and promised a balanced approach to diplomacy that does not oppose China, South Korea's biggest trading partner. Yoon advocates a policy of "peace through strength" with North Korea and has been a more vocal critic of Beijing.
No matter who wins, many analysts predict a large amount of continuation in Seoul's foreign policy.
Aiden Foster-Carter, a Korea expert at the University of Leeds, wrote on the Chatham House website, "Economic interests, a rebellious North and worsening US-China tensions will set the criteria for whoever takes over the next Blue House." " "The rhetoric may vary, but the wiggle room is small."
Throttle politics
South Korea has long seen fierce fighting between conservatives and liberals. This can often feel like a zero-sum game; Every living former president has been convicted of crimes since his political rivals came to power.
But the stakes seem even higher now, especially for conservatives who are still grappling with their icon, former President Park Geun-hee, who was impeached in 2017 and convicted of corruption charges. Park, the daughter of longtime military dictator Park Chung-hee, was pardoned by her successor Moon late last year.
Conservative Yun has threatened to launch an investigation into Moon as well as his rival Lee if he becomes president. Yoon has also compared his rivals in the ruling party to Hitler and Mussolini.
Meanwhile, liberal Lee faces the question of whether he knew about or was involved in a snowballing real estate corruption scandal during his time as mayor of a city on the outskirts of Seoul. Lee denied any wrongdoing and instead accused Yoon of being involved in the scheme.
Both men have also dragged their personal lives into the campaign. He is surrounded by accusations that he relies on embarrassment and superstition. During a televised debate, he was forced to deny that he had met an unlicensed religious practitioner who specializes in anal acupuncture.
In an argument last year, Lee offered to take off his pants after Lee brought up old allegations of an extramarital affair with a famous actress who described what he said was a distinctive mole on the candidate's genitals. .