South Korea's Park seen winning tight presidential election(40% counted, up by 5.4%)

Reuters ^ | Dec 19, 2012 | Jane Chung and Jack Kim

[TigerLikesRooster]

South Korea's Park seen winning tight presidential election

By Jane Chung and Jack Kim

SEOUL | Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:56am EST

(Reuters) - The daughter of the South Korea's former military ruler appeared to be leading in Wednesday's presidential vote, putting her on track to become the country's first woman head of state although her narrow advantage meant the race was set to go to the wire.

A win for the 60-year old conservative Park Geun-hye would see her return to the presidential palace where she served as her father's first lady in the 1970s after Park's mother was assassinated by a North Korean-backed gunman.

Exit polls released by three broadcasters showed Park had 50.1 percent of the vote against 48.9 percent for her left-wing challenger, human rights lawyer Moon Jae-in, in a tight race where the predicted outcome was well within the margin of error.

[TigerLikesRooster]

At the moment, Park is leading by 5.4% with 40% of votes counted. This is more like Bush's reelection in 2004. Fully mobilized on both sides. No middle ground. Heavy turnout(77%.) While it is not a rout, this is still a decisive win.

For up-to-date tally of votes, go to the following link:

http://news.naver.com/main/president2012/result/index.nhn

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

One thing notable in this election is that conservatives held off vicious leftwing Internet campaign. Their smearing and agitation failed to take off.

[Redmen4ever]

The Return of the Queen (she had served as First Lady when her mother died during her father’s presidency)

[Chong]

Bookmark.

[MrB]

Korea has their version of South Park?
Cool!

[AmericanInTokyo]

Now it is up to 80% in with a 51.5 % win I think, so far, the other guy looks under 48% for the center/commie guy Mun (Moon). A bunch of also rans polled below 1%. What happened to that lady that joined the one debate along with Park and Moon and kind of ruined it, she was a real lefty as I recall.....

[AmericanInTokyo]

How odd. The man in the seat of power (or “boy” I should say), Kim Jong Un, is the grandson of both the man who started the Korean War (Kim Il Sung) but who also sent the NORTH Korean agents out to kill the father and mother of the woman who is now set to be the Conservative new president of SOUTH KOREA. Can this get any more weird than this? What would happen if these two ever met? “Your grandfather killed my mother via his agents, didn’t he?”

[TigerLikesRooster]

Lee Jung-hee, a real commie, infuriated many folks, especially the old ones. She dropped out several days ago, giving support to Moon, which he did not appreciate. Support from her would be like a curse. She is partly responsible for 90% turnout in those who are 50 or older.

The conventional wisdom on turnout was turned upside down today. The heavy turnout is perceived as an indicator that younger generation, more left-leaning(& empty-headed,) come out in force. The problem is that the turnout of older folks was even heavier(90%,) while the turnout of the former is about 65%.

Basically it has turned into proxy match between Park Jung-hee and Roh Mu-hyun. In this battle, Roh has no chance, and so does his proxy Moon Jae-in.

[darrellmaurina]

Thank you for the info. I'd like some data from those closer to the scene than me... just how far left-wing is Park's opponent, and just how effective has Park been in distancing herself from her father's rule? Links would be helpful.

For those who don't know, the original President Park is known for two things: on the positive side, for his highly successful efforts to build up Korean industry and bring South Korea into the modern world, and on the less-positive side, for his severe authoritarian rule.

Accusations of “human rights violations” are made so often today that they often have lost their shock value. We assume the accusations are about something relatively minor. That's not true about President Park Chung-hee; nobody on Free Republic would want to have an American president doing the things that Park did. He ruled as an authoritarian dictator who severely persecuted his opponents out of fear — legitimate fear — that the North Korean Communists would use any perception of governmental weakness to sow serious instability and perhaps overthrow his anti-Communist regime.

The bottom line is that President Park did a lot of good things. He's significantly responsible for the development of South Korea into what it is today, and possibly even for its continued existence as a separate country.

However, he certainly had another side as well. The only defense of that side that can be made is that persecution, silencing, exile, torture, and even execution of his opponents may have been necessary. Harsh measures are sometimes unavoidable under harsh conditions, Korea simply did not have a tradition of democracy prior to the arrival of American soldiers, and it's probably not fair to judge President Park by the standards of a Western nation with a long history of democratic governance.

[Impy]

She won, good news.

I wish her party was still called “The Grand National Party”, coolest name ever.

[GeronL]

yes it was.

Well they still got Seoul, and they ROK!

heh

[Impy]

:-D