‘It’s a great victory by a great people’
SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — Moon Jae-in declared victory in South Korea’s presidential election Tuesday after his two main rivals conceded, capping one of the most turbulent political stretches in the nation’s recent history.
Moon, a liberal former human rights lawyer who was jailed as a student by a previous dictatorship, favours closer ties with North Korea, saying hard-line conservative governments did nothing to prevent the North’s development of nuclear missiles and only reduced South Korea’s voice in international efforts to counter North Korea.
Moon, the child of refugees who fled North Korea during the Korean War, will lead a nation shaken by a scandal that felled his conservative predecessor, Park Geun-hye, who sits in a jail cell awaiting a corruption trial later this month.
Moon smiled and waved his hands above his head as supporters chanted his name at Gwanghwamun square in central Seoul, where millions of Koreans had gathered for months starting late last year in peaceful protests that eventually toppled Park.
“It’s a great victory by a great people,” Moon told the crowd. “I’ll gather all of my energy to build a new nation.”
Tuesday’s election saw strong turnout — about 77 per cent of 42.5 million eligible voters. Moon had a relatively low share of the total vote — 41.4 per cent according to an exit poll — but there were many more major candidates than in 2012, when Park won 51.5 per cent, beating Moon by about a million votes.
Moon’s two biggest rivals, conservative Hong Joon-pyo and centrist Ahn Cheol-soo, were expected to garner 23.3 per cent and 21.8 per cent, respectively, according to the exit poll, which had a margin of error of 0.8 percentage points.
Moon will be officially sworn in as South Korea’s new president after the election commission finishes the vote count and declares the winner Wednesday morning. This forgoes the usual two-month transition because Tuesday’s vote was a byelection to choose a successor to Park, whose term was to end in February 2018.
Moon will still serve out the typical single five-year term.