South Korea voting begins

Ruling Party leads opinion polls

S KOREA: Millions of South Koreans went to the polls yesterday in local elections overshadowed by rekindled security concerns about North Korea.

The sinking of a South Korean warship in March with the loss of 46 lives cast a long shadow over the nationwide elections for local posts.

Analysts predict a strong showing for President Lee Myung-Bak’s ruling party since cross-border threats at election time — known as the “North wind” — tend to cause voters to rally to the conservatives.

A total of 39 million voters are eligible to choose among 9,900 candidates for 4,000 posts including provincial governors, mayors, councillors and education chiefs.

Polls will remain open for 12 hours until 6:00 pm (0900 GMT), after which TV exit polls will be announced. Official results are expected early Thursday.

Lee’s Grand National Party (GNP) widened its opinion poll lead over the left-leaning Democratic Party (DP) after a multinational probe concluded last month that North Korea torpedoed the warship.

The North flatly denies responsibility but a survey showed 54 percent of voters would take the “provocation” into account.

Police said they were widening an investigation into rumour-mongering about the sinking on the eve of the elections. Some 300 leaflets claiming that key evidence in the probe was faked were distributed in northeastern Seoul.

“The fabrication is so ridiculous that even a puppy jeers at the scheme,” read one leaflet depicting a small dog smiling next to a US submarine.

“If you vote for No. 1 candidate (from the GNP), a war will break out,” it said.

North Korea has urged voters to punish the government of President Lee.

He took office in February 2008 for a single five-year term and angered Pyongyang by scrapping the decade-long “Sunshine” aid and engagement policy practised by his DP predecessors. SEOUL, Wednesday, AFP