South Koreans vote in tight presidential race

SEOUL: South Koreans turned out in force Wednesday to vote in a tight and potentially historic presidential election that could result in Asia's fourth-largest economy selecting its first female leader.

The ballot is a straight fight between Park Geun-Hye, the conservative daughter of assassinated dictator Park Chung-Hee, and her liberal rival Moon Jae-In, the son of North Korean refugees.

Opinion polls indicate the result could go either way.

The eventual occupant of the presidential Blue House will have to deal with a belligerent North Korea, a slowing economy and soaring welfare costs in one of the world's most rapidly ageing societies.

Park, 60, was looking to make history by becoming the first female president of a still male-dominated nation, and the first to be related to a former leader.

Her father remains one of modern Korea's most polarising figures -- admired for dragging the country out of poverty and reviled for his ruthless suppression of dissent during 18 years of military rule.

He was shot dead by his spy chief in 1979. Park's mother had been killed five years earlier by a pro-North Korea gunman aiming for her father.

Moon, who was chief of staff to the late left-wing president Roh Moo-Hyun, is a former human rights lawyer who was once jailed for protesting against the Park Chung-Hee regime.

Despite the bitter cold, with temperatures as low as -12 Celsius (10.4 Fahrenheit), turnout was strong with long queues at polling stations throughout the day.

At 4:00pm (0700 GMT), the election commission put the turnout at 65.2 percent, already higher than the final 2007 figure of 63 percent with two hours still to go.

A high turnout was considered important for Moon, whose main support lies with younger Koreans traditionally seen as less inclined to vote than older voters who generally favour Park.