UPDATED 7:08 AM EST, December 19, 2012
Exit polls indicate that South Koreans have chosen their first female head of state. The New Frontier Party's Park Geun-hye is projected to win 50.1 percent of the vote vs. 48.9 of the vote for her rival Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party. Moon, described by Reuters as a "left-wing... human rights lawyer", had run on a platform of providing aid to North Korea without preconditions. Park, a 60 year old whose mother was assassinated by a North Korean-backed gunman, has set preconditions on engaging Pyongyang, and demands an apology over North Korean provocations.
