BY News Agency
South Korean voters have overwhelmingly chosen Moon Jae-in, a human rights lawyer and liberal candidate, as their next president.
While Moon had 41.4%, his nearest challenger, the conservative Hong Joon-Pyo, got 23.3% of the votes.
Jae-in favours greater dialogue with North Korea, in a change with current South Korean policy.
The early election was called after a corruption scandal led to the impeachment of the former president.
Park Geun-hye is accused of allowing a close friend to extort money from companies. She denies all wrongdoing.
A former member of South Korea’s special forces turned lawyer, Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea, unsuccessfully ran against Park in 2012 election.
He positioned himself as the man who can move the country on from the scandals of Park’s era.
“I feel that not only my party and myself but also the people have been more desperate for a change of government,” he said while casting his vote earlier on Tuesday.
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