S. Koreans go to polls to pick new president

SEOUL -- Polls began early Tuesday nationwide to pick South Korea's new president.

The election is scheduled to last from 6:00 a.m. local time (2100 GMT Monday) to 8:00 pm (1100 GMT Tuesday) at 14,295 polling stations across the country.

The presidential race was triggered by the removal of former conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol from office over his botched martial law bid.

Recent surveys showed that Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party continued to have around 50 percent of support, holding a big lead over Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party with about 30 percent.

Lee lost the 2022 presidential election to Yoon, then candidate of the People Power Party, by the country's narrowest margin of 0.73 percentage points.

An early voting was carried out between May 29 and May 30. Among over 44 million eligible voters, 34.74 percent cast preliminary votes.