South Korean who backs talks with the North claims victor, but risks U.S. rift
SEOUL, South Korea — Moon Jae-in, a human rights lawyer who favors dialogue with North Korea, declared victory in the South Korean election on Tuesday, after his rivals appeared to concede defeat.
“I will be a president for all the people,” Mr. Moon said in a nationally televised speech before a group of cheering supporters gathered in central Seoul, the capital. He said he would work with political rivals to create a country where “justice rules and common sense prevails.”
His victory would return the liberals to power after nearly a decade in the political wilderness and set up a potential rift with the United States over the North’s nuclear weapons program.
Mr. Moon was leading in the vote-counting by a comfortable margin around midnight local time, though official results were not expected until well into Wednesday.
The vote caps a remarkable national drama in which a corruption scandal, mass protests and impeachment forced a South Korean president from office for the first time in almost 60 years, leaving the conservative establishment in disarray and its former leader in jail.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/world/asia/south-korea-election-president-moon-jae-in.html?&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
