Sharjah24 – AFP: South Koreans began voting for a new president Wednesday with economic inequality a top concern, despite growing sabre-rattling from the nuclear-armed North.
Polling booths opened at 6am (2100 GMT) with many voters lining up patiently in the dark waiting to cast their ballots.
Record early voting indicates turnout will be high after a campaign dominated by mud-slinging between liberal Lee Jae-myung and conservative Yoon Suk-yeol.
The pair have been neck-and-neck in the polls for months, with around 90 percent of the electorate supporting one or the other.
Analysts say South Korean politics is particularly adversarial, with democracy only restored in 1987 after decades of authoritarian rule.
Presidents serve just a single term of five years, and every living former leader has been jailed for corruption after leaving office.
Yoon has already threatened to investigate outgoing President Moon Jae-in, citing unspecified "irregularities".
Polling stations opened at 6 am (2100 GMT) and will shut at 6 pm. For 90 minutes after closing, Covid-positive voters will be allowed to cast their ballots.
South Korea is in the grip of an Omicron wave with more than 200,000 new cases being recorded on most days this month.
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