Moon wins S. Korea election by landslide

Seoul, Tuesday

South Korean voters have overwhelmingly chosen the liberal candidate Moon Jae-in as their next president, an exit poll suggests. It put Moon on 41.4 per cent, with his nearest challenger, conservative Hong Joon-Pyo, on 23.3 per cent.

Moon favours greater dialogue with North Korea, in a change to current South Korean policy. The early election was called after a corruption scandal led to the impeachment of the former president.

Voters have been galvanised by anger over the sprawling bribery and abuse-of-power scandal that brought down Park, which catalysed frustrations over jobs and slowing growth.

Left-leaning Moon, a former human rights lawyer, had held a commanding lead in opinion polls for months, with the final Gallup Korea survey before a week-long pre-election blackout giving him 38 per cent support.

“I feel the people’s strong will to change the government. We can make it a reality only when we vote”, Moon said after casting his ballot with his wife at a polling station in western Seoul.

A Moon Jae-in presidency would represent a real shift in attitude towards North Korea. His policy is to increase contact with North Korea, in contrast to the tighter sanctions of the last ten years.

He is unhappy about the deployment of a US anti-missile system on South Korean soil. When Moon was last in government, in the early 2000s, South Korea had a “Sunshine Policy” which meant co-operation with North Korea, a policy which was abandoned as North Korea tested nuclear weapons. For the last eight years, Seoul and Washington have been in lock-step over North Korea, with ever tighter sanctions and isolation. —BBC & AFP

The post Moon wins S. Korea election by landslide appeared first on Mediamax Network Limited.