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Article snippet: ■ South Koreans turned out on Tuesday to elect a successor to former President Park Geun-hye, who was forced from office in a corruption scandal. The three leading candidates offer a stark choice for voters. ■ Moon Jae-in, the candidate for the Democratic Party of Korea who has been leading in polls, is open to a dialogue with North Korea. He said on Tuesday that he was hopeful of victory. “I gave my body and soul to the very end,” he said of his campaign. ■ Ahn Cheol-soo, a centrist who represents the People’s Party, has expressed support for the deployment by the United States of an antimissile system on South Korean soil — which Mr. Moon criticizes. Mr. Ahn appealed to people to vote, saying the election “will change the future of this country.” He was running second in polls when a mandatory cutoff on releasing new survey results took effect a week ago. ■ Hong Joon-pyo, the candidate of Ms. Park’s conservative Liberty Korea Party, wants to maintain a tough stance against North Korea. After casting his vote in Seoul on Tuesday morning, he said the election was a “choice between a pro-North Korean, leftist regime or a government that will protect a free South Korea.” A week before the vote, he was running third. ■ Turnout is heavy: The National Election Commission said that by 5 p.m., 11 hours after the polls opened, voter turnout was at 70 percent. The polls close at 8 p.m. ■ The most recent Gallup poll showed Mr. Moon with 38 percent support, Mr. Ahn with 20 ... Link to the full article to read more