North Korea again dominates South Korea’s presidential election

FILE - In this Sunday, April 30, 2017 file photo, Ahn Cheol-soo, center, presidential candidate of South Korea's People's Party, is greeted by his supporters during a presidential election campaign in Goyang, South Korea. For South Koreans living next door to a hostile, nuclear-armed state that regularly threatens their annihilation, their vote in Tuesday’s presidential election likely will be based in part on each candidate’s plan for how to handle North Korea. The North Korea conundrum is a perpetual foreign policy headache for South Korea’s leaders and one that is impacting the presidential race in several ways.
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File) — FILE - In this Sunday, April 30, 2017 file photo, Ahn Cheol-soo, center, presidential candidate of South Korea's People's Party, is greeted by his supporters during a presidential election campaign in Goyang, South Korea. For South Koreans living next door to a hostile, nuclear-armed state that regularly threatens their annihilation, their vote in Tuesday’s presidential election likely will be based in part on each candidate’s plan for how to handle North Korea. The North Korea conundrum is a perpetual foreign policy headache for South Korea’s leaders and one that is impacting the presidential race in several ways. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File) FILE - In this Sunday, April 30, 2017 file photo, Ahn Cheol-soo, center, presidential candidate of South Korea's People's Party, is greeted by his supporters during a presidential election campaign in Goyang, South Korea. For South Koreans living next door to a hostile, nuclear-armed state that regularly threatens their annihilation, their vote in Tuesday’s presidential election likely will be based in part on each candidate’s plan for how to handle North Korea. The North Korea conundrum is a perpetual foreign policy headache for South Korea’s leaders and one that is impacting the presidential race in several ways. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

By Associated Press May 4, 2017 4 min read

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – For South Koreans living next door to a hostile, nuclear-armed state that regularly threatens their annihilation, their vote in Tuesday’s presidential election likely will be based in part on each candidate’s plan for how to handle North Korea.

The North Korea conundrum is a perpetual foreign policy headache for South Korea’s leaders and one that is impacting the presidential race in several ways:

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THE CHOICES

The current front-runner is liberal candidate Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyer who has repeatedly called former President Park Geun-hye’s North Korea policy a complete failure. He wants to improve ties with Pyongyang by abandoning the hard-line approach to the North favored over the past decade by conservative governments.