South Korea votes for a new president after corruption scandal that toppled the last one
South Koreans are voting for a new president on Tuesday, in a special election prompted by the impeachment and arrest of former President Park Geun-hye in a wide-ranging corruption scandal. The frontrunner in the polls is Moon Jae-in (pictured) of the left-leaning Democratic Party, followed by centrist candidate Ahn Cheol-soo and Hong Joon-pyo, the conservative candidate of Park's embattled Liberty Korea Party. There are 10 other candidates on the ballot, too.
Moon has pledged to soften Seoul's hardline policy toward North Korea and reassess the deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile-defense system in South Korea. The polls close at 8 p.m. local time (7 a.m. EDT), and unofficial results are expected to be released soon after. The winner will be confirmed Wednesday and sworn in immediately for a full five-year term.
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