South Koreans vote for president after months of turmoil triggered by martial law

The conservative Kim, on the other hand, has branded Lee a “dictator” and his Democratic Party a “monster”, warning if the former human rights lawyer becomes president, nothing will stop them from working together to amend laws simply because they do not like them.

Lee is favoured to win, according to polls released a week before the vote, leading Kim by 14 percentage points with 49 per cent public support in a Gallup Korea survey, although Kim had narrowed an even wider gap at the start of the campaign on May 12.