Koreans voted in tightly contested presidential elections Wednesday to decide whether to hand power back to liberals after a five-year conservative rule or to embrace a woman contender for the top office for the first time in the country's history.
Seven hours after the polls opened at 6 a.m., election officials reported an average voter turnout of 45.3 percent nationwide as of 1 p.m., higher than 36.7 percent and 41.9 percent reported at the same time in the previous presidential votes in 2007 and 2002, respectively.
Public interest is high for the election, which is expected to be one of the tightest ever.
Voters stood in long lines at polling stations despite a cold wave that pulled down temperatures to as low as 10.3 degrees Celsius below the freezing point in Seoul.
The polls are scheduled to close at 6 p.m.
The race has been a dead heat between Park Geun-hye of the conservative ruling Saenuri Party and her main opposition Democratic United Party rival Moon Jae-in. Many pre-election surveys have shown the two running neck-and-neck within the margin of error.
Park, 60, a daughter of former President Park Chung-hee, aspires to become Korea's first female president, while Moon, 59, a human rights lawyer-turned-politician, seeks to bring power back to liberals after five years under conservative President Lee Myung-bak.
"Though it's cold today, I hope you will take part in the voting and open up a new era that every one of you has yearned for," Park said after casting her vote at a station near her home in southern Seoul.
"I will humbly wait for the people's choice. I believe the wise people will open up a new era for our Republic of Korea," said Park, dressed in a dark winter coat and wearing a red muffler, the color of her party.
Moon also cast his ballot in the southern port city of Busan, where he has a constituency.
"As I have given it my all, I have to wait for a divine directive," Moon told reporters, referring to a traditional maxim. "The only way for the people to change the world is voting. The only way for the people to stand above political power is voting. ... If you have been unsatisfied over the last five years, please change the world with your votes."
Outgoing President Lee and Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik also voted.
Lee's single, five-year term ends in February and by law, he cannot seek reelection.
Three major TV stations are scheduled to announce the results of joint exit polls at 6 p.m.
A clearer view of the outcome is expected to come within a few hours of the ballot counting process with the winner likely to emerge after 11 p.m. at the earliest.
The final tally won't be completed until early Thursday.
The results could have profound impacts on major domestic and foreign policies of South Korea as the two main contenders differ sharply on relations with North Korea, a free trade pact with the United States, corporate reforms, welfare policies and other matters.
The balloting comes a week after North Korea successfully launched a long-range rocket, a global security shock that fueled concern the communist nation is closer to developing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
The race has been too close to call, especially after popular software tycoon Ahn Cheol-soo pulled out of the contest and declared his support for Moon.
Before the blackout on all nationwide polls last week, Park was slightly ahead of Moon with her lead within the margin of error in most surveys taken. But Moon's party has claimed its hopeful effectively caught up with Park and could pull off an upset victory.
The razor-close race led to the campaigns turning heavily negative, with accusations and counter-accusations of illegal electioneering swirling on and off line, including allegations that the country's main spy agency attempted to engineer public opinions on the Internet.
On Wednesday, Park's ruling Saenuri Party accused Moon's opposition DUP of sending campaign text messages in large numbers to voters after official campaigning came to an end at midnight Tuesday.
The DUP acknowledged that the party sent the messages, but insisted that no law was broken because it sent the messages around 10 p.m. Tuesday and their arrivals appear to have been delayed due to mobile traffic problems.
The watchdog National Election Commission referred the case to the prosecution.
The NEC expects the final turnout to exceed 70 percent, higher than 63 percent in 2007.
Election experts believe that voter turnout will affect the outcome of the polls as a higher turnout generally means more young voters participated in the balloting. Moon is more popular among younger voters, while older voters are more supportive of Park.
An earlier poll announced by the state election watchdog showed close to 80 percent of the 40.4 million eligible voters said they would cast ballots this year. The total number of voters eligible to cast their ballots rose by 2.81 million from the 2007 presidential election. (Yonhap)
(Yonhap)