South Korea: Overseas voting for presidential election underway

Tokyo/Beijing, May 20 (IANS) South Korean nationals living or staying abroad went to the polls on Tuesday to pick a new president as overseas voting was underway ahead of the June 3 election, according to embassy officials.

The out-of-country voting will run for six days, with more than 258,000 South Korean nationals, including those registered as absentee voters, eligible to vote at 223 polling stations across 118 countries.

In Japan, some 38,000 out of 411,000 South Korean nationals aged 18 or over with voting rights registered to vote, the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo said.

Polling stations have been set up in Tokyo and other major cities like Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, Sapporo, Sendai and Fukuoka.

Park Cheol-hee, South Korea's ambassador to Japan, was among those who cast their ballots earlier in the day.

"It's very important for overseas Koreans to exercise their right to vote for the progress of Korea," Park told reporters after voting. "I'd like to encourage as many people as possible to visit the polling stations, even if they're busy."

Ten polling stations have been set up in China, including the South Korean Embassy in Beijing and the consulates general in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang, Xian, Wuhan, Chengdu, Qingdao and Hong Kong, as well as the consular office in Dalian.

Of the 4,218 registered voters, 250 nationals came to cast their ballots during the day, an embassy official in Beijing said.

The first voter was a university student in New Zealand, the South Korean Embassy in Wellington said, Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korea's Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lee Jae-myung and People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim Moon-soo were set for their campaign rallies in the greater Seoul area, as they seek to reach out to centrist voters.

With just two weeks until the June 3 presidential election, Lee will crisscross Gyeonggi Province, while Kim will appeal to voters in Seoul.

The greater Seoul area is home to about half of the 52 million-person population.

This makes it a key battleground in the election to pick a successor to former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was ousted over his failed martial law bid.

In various opinion polls, Lee was ahead of Kim. A Realmeter survey released this week showed that Lee garnered 50.2 per cent support, trailed by Kim with 35.6 per cent and Lee Jun-seok of the minor New Reform Party with 8.7 per cent.

Lee of the DP will kick off the day by holding virtual talks with Korean expatriates living abroad to encourage overseas voting, which takes place for a week starting Tuesday.