Moon Jae-in set for South Korean presidency

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL (AA) - Moon Jae-in looks likely to be South Korea's next president according to the exit poll data which gave him a lead of more than 18 percentage points over his nearest rival on Tuesday.

Tens of millions of citizens flocked to nearly 14,000 polling stations nationwide in what was reported to be a high turnout for an eagerly anticipated snap election to replace scandal-hit former President Park Geun-hye.

Among 13 candidates vying for the job, Moon was forecast to have earned 41.4 percent of the vote compared to conservative rival Hong Joon-pyo's 23.2 percent, according to the exit poll carried out by broadcasters MBC, KBS and SBS.

The data was released as voting closed at 8 p.m. local time (1100GMT). The winner will not take office until after being officially confirmed on Wednesday morning.

Moon of the Democratic Party was the clear front-runner in polls before the election, with experts expecting a swing from Park's conservative government.

The liberal favorite is seen as willing to cooperate with North Korea having been involved in the last inter-Korean summit in 2007.