Moon Jae-in claims victory in South Korea presidential election

"I will be a president for all the people", Moon said in a nationally televised speech before a group of cheering supporters gathered in central Seoul, the capital.

"If exit polls are true, I will accept the results and just be satisfied with the fact that the Liberty Korea Party will be restored", a downbeat-looking Hong told members of his conservative party.

Exit polls project landslide victory for liberal candidate, a result that ends almost a decade of conservative rule.

Moon was chief of staff for the last liberal president, the late Roh Moo-hyun, who sought closer ties with North Korea by setting up large-scale aid shipments and working on now-stalled joint economic projects.

Moon, who narrowly lost to Park in the last presidential election, in 2012, has criticised the two former conservative governments for failing to stop North Korea's weapons development.

Lee Sun-jin, chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, who briefed him on the military's preparedness against North Korea, a Democratic Party official said. I will go to Beijing and I will go to Tokyo.

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The polls have shown Hong and the centrist Ahn Cheol-soo running even.

Data from an exit poll conducted by South Korea's top three television networks showed that, while Moon won the majority of votes cast by those under the age of 50, rival Hong found strong support from those in their 60s and 70s, who tend to be more conservative.

South Koreans voted to elect liberal candidate Moon Jae-in as their next president on Tuesday, and pundits had the most ingenious way of covering it: by making Game of Thrones memes.

Casting his vote in Seoul, he said: "I gave all my body and soul (to the election) to the very end". The 64-year-old politician has held many titles through the years, but they haven't always been in politics.

He has positioned himself as the man who can move the country on from the scandals of Ms Park's era.

The election has been watched closely by allies and neighbors, with North Korea believed to be gearing up for its sixth nuclear test and vowing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile. Official results are expected Wednesday morning, when the National Election Commission meets to certify the outcome.

As also reported by Clickondetroit, corruption is also among the top factors worrying the residents of South Korea.

The allegations incensed many in South Korea, with millions taking to the streets in protest.

October 29: The first in what will become a series of large anti-Park rallies is held in Seoul. Dozens of high-profile figures, including Park's longtime confidante, Choi Soon-sil, and Samsung's de facto leader, Lee Jae-yong, have been indicted along with Park.

Moon became a lawyer and joined Roh's law office in the early 1980s.

Conservative critics also accuse him of being too soft toward nuclear-armed North Korea.

His election could complicate the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defence anti-missile system, which the former Seoul government and the United States military agreed past year to deploy in South Korea as defence against North Korean missiles.

Moon has lashed out at unconditional consent to the USA missile system, which he claims cost Seoul's diplomatic cards and leverage. South Korea is under constant threat from an unpredictable Kim Jong-un.

The election of Moon, a 64-year-old former human rights lawyer, is likely to mean an overhaul for Seoul's policy on North Korea as he favors engagement with Pyongyang and has challenged the deployment of USA missile defense system, THAAD, on South Korean soil.

Seoul and Washington began to deploy the USA missile shield in South Korea to counter North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats. The country may already have shorter-range nuclear missiles that can strike South Korea and Japan.