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       Polls opened at 6 a.m. in South Korea.Credit...Jun Michael Park for The New York Times

       What’s at stake in South Korea’s election South Korea votes for a new president today, after months of political turmoil that began when the conservative president Yoon Suk Yeol briefly declared martial law in December, and then was impeached and expelled from office. Polls opened across the country just as we sent this newsletter.

       Lee Jae-myung, the centrist leader of the Democratic Party, is the favorite to win, according to opinion polls. He is facing Kim Moon-soo, a conservative from the governing People Power Party and a compatriot of Yoon’s.

       I asked my colleague Choe Sang-Hun, The Times’s Seoul bureau chief, about the election.

       What are the main issues in this election and what will you be watching for?

       Sang-Hun: Many South Koreans see this election as a referendum on former President Yoon. Lee calls for “putting an end to insurrection” by driving out Yoon and the People Power Party.

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       Kim has failed to cut ties with Yoon. He is rallying support among older South Koreans by warning that if Lee wins the presidency, with his party holding a majority in Parliament, he will become a dictator and take South Korea closer to China and North Korea at the cost of its alliance with the U.S. Lee dismissed these accusations as part of a smear campaign.

       Lee faces several criminal trials. What could happen with them if he wins the election?

       Even if Lee wins, he needs to clear a major constitutional hurdle before establishing his authority as president.

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