South Korea's liberal leader Moon Jae-in celebrated an election victory with his supporters on Tuesday as he is set to take the helm as the new president.
The vote comes following the ousting of former president Park Geun-Hye, who was indicted for corruption earlier this year and is awaiting trial.
Wearing a dark blue suit and blue tie, Moon was seen shaking hands with supporters and party officials and smiling on his way to a meeting of his Democratic Party after the exit poll results were announced.
An exit poll conducted jointly by three network TV stations had put him on course to get 41.4% of the vote, with his nearest challenger, conservative Hong Joon-Pyo, on 23.3%.
His election could add volatility to relations with Washington, given his questioning of the deployment of the USA military's Terminal High Altitude Area Defences (THAT'D) anti-missile system, but is not expected to significantly change the alliance, a US official said.
In an election day editorial, the JoongAng daily said South Korea had been left "adrift" by the "acute division and lack of national leadership" stemming from the corruption scandal and Park's impeachment. The former human rights lawyer was a close friend and confidant of late president Roh Moo-hyun, who served from 2003 to 2008 and advocated a "Sunshine Policy" of engaging North Korea through aid and exchanges. Moon said in a YouTube live stream on Tuesday South Korea should take on a more active diplomatic role to curb North Korea's nuclear threat and not watch idly as the United States and China talk to each other.
Trump has called for "maximum pressure" on North Korea to make the Kim regime give up its nuclear and missile programs, and has threatened to use military force, an approach that could push North Korea to unleash waves of artillery fire on Seoul. She is now behind bars while on trial on 18 charges including bribery and corruption.
A win by Moon would end a decade of conservative rule in South Korea and could result in sharp departures from recent policy toward nuclear-armed North Korea.
South Korea's electorate is deeply divided along ideological and generational lines, and the strong early turnout was seen as being driven by younger voters, who are more likely to support the liberal Moon.
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His victory would return the liberals to power after almost a decade in the political wilderness and set up a potential rift with the United States over the North's nuclear weapons program.
He has said he wants to review the deployment of an advanced USA missile defence system in South Korea and would be willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
Experts have been predicting an imminent nuclear test, North Korea's sixth, for weeks now, as the country ramps up missile testing and saber rattling.
"This is the great victory for the great people who have been with me to build a just country, united country and a country where principle and common sense works, Moon said".
And it could have implications for the United States.
Moon's administration also needs to figure out how to ease tensions with China stemming from the deployment of a US anti-missile defence system in South Korea to guard against the threat of a North Korean missile strike.
Facing criticism from the right that his party is anti-American, Moon has played up Trump's apparent willingness to meet with Kim, saying he is on the "same page" as the USA leader.
His core policy proposals include job creation, with the specific pledge to create 810,000 public-sector positions; reducing long working hours; improving transparency in government appointments; and strengthening regulations on the huge conglomerates that dominate corporate South Korea and have been implicated in recent corruption scandals.
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