South Korea's presidential election is today, the 3rd, the voting day - TV debate and early voting leave issues unresolved

The South Korean presidential election will be held today, the 3rd. In opinion polls, Lee Jae-myung of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea is leading, followed by Kim Jong-un of the ruling People Power Party.
The election campaign has been going on with Moon Soo and Lee Jun-seok, the opposition candidate from the New Reform Party, in hot pursuit. The 22-day election campaign period has ended, but the TV programs broadcast during that period were
Issues remain in debates and early voting. Negative campaigning against rival candidates became heated during the election campaign. Inappropriate remarks were made by candidates during television debates.
The turnout rate for the early voting held on the 30th and 4th was expected to be the highest ever, but it was only 34.7%, lower than the previous presidential election. Experts say that negative campaigning also played a role.
The election commission's poor management has also been criticized, and proxy voting irregularities have been confirmed. The latest presidential election was held in December last year after President Moon Jae-in was impeached and removed from office for declaring "emergency martial law."
The election is being held following the ouster of former President Yoon Seok-yeol, who was elected in 2016. The 22-day election campaign period has ended, but the election is still in the lead for Lee Jae-myung, who has been boosted by public criticism of Yoon.
Since the publication of opinion polls is prohibited six days before the election, it is not possible to grasp the situation since then, but it is believed that the situation has not changed significantly.
During the election campaign, three television debates were held, in which the candidates exchanged accusations.
During the first debate, when discussing "trade strategies in the Trump era," Lee Jae-myung told Kim, "You asked the Minister in charge of the Korean economy, who was in charge of the 0% growth rate under the previous Yoon Seok-yeol administration, about this.
When asked, "Do you not feel responsible for this?" candidate Kim responded, "Candidate Lee Jae Myung opposes everything we try to do. That's why the way for the economy to recover was not opened."
In addition, prior to the first debate, in a speech in the southwestern city of Gunsan, Lee Jae-myung said that he had punished shopkeepers who were operating illegally during his time as governor of Gyeonggi Province.
"(The chicken porridge shop) spends 50,000 won (about 5,200 yen) and sweats for an hour to make the chicken porridge, but even if they sell it, they only have 30,000 won left.
However, (cafes) can earn 8,000 to 10,000 won for a cup of coffee, and when I checked the cost price, it was 120 won." In response, cafe owners said, "We are
"Are you saying that these people are making 20 times the profits?" Anger was expressed. The Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo also picked up on this statement, saying, "Lee Jae-myung's economic understanding is far removed from reality."
"If coffee that costs 120 won can be sold for 8,000 to 10,000 won, what is the point of the current difficulties facing various stores?" he said.
Candidate Kim picked up on this statement and asked candidate Lee Jae-myung, "In your election speech, you said, 'The cost of a cup of coffee is 120 won,' but is it still 120 won?" Candidate Lee replied, "You're right.
"The leaves have a context. What I said was that the price of raw coffee in 2019 was about 120 won. That doesn't take into account labor and facility costs."
At the final debate held on the 27th of last month, Lee Jae-myung's eldest son was accused of making inappropriate comments about women's physical characteristics online, and the Reform New Party
" candidate Lee Jun-seok read out the comment, causing controversy. The Democratic Party of Korea pointed out that Lee Jun-seok fabricated the content of the comment into a misogynistic and discriminatory expression.
The lawsuit was brought against him on suspicion of violating the Public Offices Election Act. Early voting took place on the 29th and 30th during the election campaign period, but at some polling stations, there were cases where proxy voting could have taken place.
Some voters who were waiting in line to receive their ballots left the polling station for a while and went out to eat.
Although there is no clear legal provision for this, the Central Election Commission apologized, saying, "We will take measures to prevent similar cases from occurring in the future."
On the 30th of last month, the police arrested a female election worker on suspicion of voting fraud after she used her husband's ID card to vote on his behalf at an early polling station in Seoul.
In one case, a man was arrested on suspicion of filming people voting in advance and posting the footage on a Chinese social networking site.
The turnout was 2.19 points lower than the previous election, at .74%. Experts believe that the reason for this is that the election was held on Thursday and Friday. In addition, the negative campaigning by the candidates has led to a decline in the number of votes.
Some believe that voters were disgusted and lost interest in voting, and that conservative voters did not go to the early voting venues because every opinion poll showed that the opposition's progressive candidate Lee Jae-myung had the highest approval rating.
Some analysts have suggested that the president may have been trying to assess the situation before voting began.