SEOUL — South Koreans voted Tuesday in an out-of-cycle presidential election, following the ouster of former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his botched attempt to impose emergency martial law in early December.
The main candidates are front-runner Lee Jae-myung of the left-leaning Democratic Party and Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party.
While we wait for results, here are some of our recent articles on this pivotal election.
– In South Korea election, voters seek economy fixes after 6 months of chaos
– South Koreans vote for their next president: 5 things to know
– Japan w of a possible Lee Jae-myung presidency in South Korea
– South Korea’s presidential candidates pledge to nurture AI economy
– What happened to South Korea’s progressive movement?
Follow all the key developments with us here on our live blog.
Here’s the latest (South Korea time):
9:20 p.m. Na Kyung-won, a high-profile member of the People Power Party, told local broadcaster KBS that she was “rather shocked” by exit polls. “It’s disappointing that the difference is quite large,” she said. “I will wait quietly for the final results.”
9:17 p.m. Lee Jun-seok of the minor New Reform Party spoke to reporters in front of his house in Gyeonggi Province: “I am sorry that I was not able to fully deliver the hopes and expectations of the younger generation. I sincerely thank the public for the support they have given me. I will continue to repay this favor and do politics. I will study and learn more through this election and further improve in the areas where I can to contribute to the Republic of Korea and politics.”
8:52 p.m. Cameras following Lee Jae-myung are now showing the front of his house; almost everyone has left the venue where the Democratic Party members had gathered to watch exit polls. Lee and his party members seem to be preparing to head to Yeouido in western Seoul where the National Assembly is located.
On the other hand, cameras are still showing the venue where members of Kim Moon-soo’s party are watching vote counting, although Kim is not there.
8:38 p.m. The acting leader of the Democratic Party said South Koreans had made a “fiery judgment against the insurrection regime” after exit polls showed a strong lead for the party over their conservative rival, reported. Park Chan-dae made the comments to KBS TV.
8:33 p.m. Though the exit poll showed Lee Jun-seok of the New Reform Party garnering just 7.7% of all votes, the poll forecast him to be the top vote getter among men in their late teens and 20s.
The three broadcasters projected Lee to win 37.2% of young men’s votes, leading Kim Moon-soo with 36.9% and far ahead of Lee Jae-myung with 24%. It was the only group that Lee Jun-seok held a lead in, the exit poll showed.
In contrast, only 10.3% of women in their late teens and 20s were projected to have voted for him. Lee Jae-myung led among young women with a commanding 58.1%. Lee Jun-seok made his name as a politician by directly appealing to young men, whom he described as unjustly suffering the effects of what he called feminism. Civic groups representing women’s interests have accused Lee of misogynistic messaging.
8:29 p.m. In exit polls by three smaller broadcasters, Lee Jae-myung is enjoying a comfortable lead over Kim Moon-soo. Support for Lee ranges between 49.2% and 51.1%, while backing for Kim falls between 38.9% and 41.7%, according to MBN, Channel A and JTBC.
8:26 p.m. Supporters of Lee seem much happier.
8:18 p.m. By voter age, the exit poll by the three broadcasters showed Lee leading Kim among all age brackets of voters in their 50s and younger. His most pronounced advantage was among voters in their 40s, where he held an advantage over Kim of slightly more than 50%. Kim held a narrow advantage in the 60s age group and bested Lee by 30% among voters in their 70s.
8:13 p.m. Read our main story on the election here. It will be updated throughout the evening.
8:10 p.m. Supporters of Kim Moon-soo appear to be disheartened by the projections.
8:01 p.m. Exit polls by three major broadcasters project victory for Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party, edging out his rival Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party by 51.7% to 39.3%.
8 p.m. Polls close. Now we await exit polls, projections and results.
7:42 p.m. As of 7 p.m., voter turnout stood at 77.8%, surpassing the figure recorded in the previous presidential election, according to the National Election Commission. Polls close at 8 p.m.
7:03 p.m. Less than an hour to go now.
6:46 p.m. And some photos from earlier in the day:
6:42 p.m. Celebrities are also getting involved. Jin of BTS cast his vote in Seoul this morning. Karina of the popular girl band Aespa caused a stir online last week after she posted a photo of her in a red jacket with the number 2 embedded on it. Speculators alleged she was hinting at her support for Kim Moon-soo of the PPP — Kim’s party color is red and he is No. 2 on the candidate list. She denied any correlation between her fashion choice and her political views.
6:15 p.m. Take a look at a video we took inside a voting station in Seoul earlier.
6:08 p.m. As of 6 p.m., voter turnout was recorded at 76.1%, one percentage point below the figure logged in the previous presidential election in 2022, according to the National Election Commission. The figure includes early voting that took place on Thursday and Friday.
6 p.m. Just two hours now until polls close.
5 p.m. On election day, both of the main candidates continued with messaging they had drawn on throughout the campaign, depicting themselves as bulwarks against chaos.
Poll leader Lee Jae-myung wrote in a public message on Tuesday afternoon that voting was the way to save South Korea from “greed of vested interests,” though he did not specify what vested interests he was referring to. “Please come forward again as citizens of the Republic of Korea, I earnestly implore you,” Lee wrote.
Conservative candidate Kim Moon-soo wrote a message on his Facebook page pledging to “block a monstrous dictatorship” while protecting “free democracy, the rule of law, the market economy and the [South] Korea-U.S. alliance.”
2:20 p.m. As of 2 p.m., 65.5% of eligible voters had cast their ballots, which was 0.7 percentage point higher than the previous presidential election in 2022, Yonhap news agency reported, citing figures from the National Election Commission.
The 2022 contest logged the highest voter turnout in the history of South Korean elections, raising the possibility of record-setting turnout in Tuesday’s polls. One factor in the high turnout could be the weather, as warm temperatures and clear conditions are forecast across the country. In Seoul, the temperature currently stands at around 24C with sunshine and low levels of fine-dust air pollution, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.
1 p.m. South Korea’s National Police Agency said it will station 28,590 police officers across the polling stations, according to the Yonhap news agency. Police said they would maintain the “highest level of emergency security,” with all personnel on standby until the newly elected president enters office.
6 a.m. Polls open at 14,295 polling stations across the country.
