How elections across the world may affect the global picture

Of the many elections that will be held across the world this year, a possible presidential poll in the Republic of Korea could have the biggest impact on China, according to observers.

The ROK President Park Geun-hye has been impeached after a scandal in which Choi Soon-sil, Park's friend and informal adviser, was accused of influence-peddling and using her connections with Park to pressure businesses into paying millions of dollars to foundations that support her initiatives.

"If the Constitutional Court finds President Park guilty, then there would be an early presidential election, probably between April and June 2017", said Yongwook Ryu, a visiting professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul.