South Korea elects first female president

SEOUL, South Korea -- Park Geun-hye, daughter of a divisive military strongman from South Korea's authoritarian era, was elected the first female president yesterday, a landmark win that could mean a new drive to start talks with rival North Korea.

After five years of high tension under unpopular incumbent Lee Myung-bak, Park, 60, has vowed to pursue engagement and step up aid to North Korea, despite the latter's widely condemned long-range rocket launch last week.

North Korean state media have repeatedly questioned the sincerity of Park's North Korea policy as she and Lee are from the same conservative party. Many voters believe Lee's policies drove the North to renew nuclear and missile tests and to launch two attacks in 2010 that killed 50 Koreans. The rocket launch made the North an issue in the closing days of campaigning, although many voters said they cared more about the economy.

Park has said she is open to dialogue with North Korea, but she has also called on Pyongyang to show progress in nuclear dismantlement. She has raised the possibility of a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but only if it's "an honest dialogue on issues of mutual concern."

Huge crowds lined up in frigid weather throughout the day to choose between Park and liberal candidate Moon Jae-in, the son of North Korean refugees.

Turnout was the highest in 15 years, and some analysts thought that might lift Moon, who is more popular with younger voters. Park was carried by her conservative base of mainly older voters.

They fondly remember her father, Park Chung-hee, dictator for 18 years until his intelligence chief killed him during a drinking party in 1979. When she was 22 her mother died in a botched attempt to assassinate her father, and Park stood in as first lady for five years until her father's death. She has created an image as a selfless daughter of Korea, never married, then a female lawmaker in a male-dominated political world.

With about 98 percent of votes counted, Park had won 51.6 percent to Moon's 47.9 percent, according to the state-run National Election Commission.