Live from early voting polling station in Seoul

Polling places nationwide opened doors at six in the morning on this Thursday for two days of early voting.

That being said I have my colleague Ahn Sung-jin standing by at one such venue here in Seoul.

Sung-jin it's great to have you on.

So what's the atmosphere like there where you are?

Right, so Sunny, I'm currently in front of an early voting location in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu District, a bustling area with offices and business people.

I was out here early this morning, and we saw an influx of people coming in to vote before going to work, so many in fact that officials needed to control the line of people, which extended well beyond the front of the polling station.

And it only got longer throughout the afternoon, with a waiting time of around 30 to 40 minutes.

Now, we're heading closer to the end of the first day of early voting.

Have a listen to some of the voters.

"A good thing about early voting is we get to come in at a convenient time for us. Especially for this time because the previous president was impeached, I cast a ballot in hopes of a president with a vision for the country."

"I had come here during lunchtime, but the line was so long, so I came again now. It's obvious for me to come and exercise my rights, so I came to vote to really end the insurrection incident we had."

So far, there haven't been any notable issues with the voting process going smoothly.

For this presidential election, there are more than 3-thousand-5-hundred polling stations nationwide, with around 420 of them in Seoul.

Now Sung-jin this latest election comes amid random allegations of election fraud.

Do walk us through the voting process this time around and the efforts in place to reassure the public about transparency.

To first explain how early voting works, early voting takes place for two days, Thursday and Friday, from 6 AM till 6 PM.

Voters must be over 18 and bring a government-issued ID.

Turnout in previous early voting in 2017 was 26.1%, while in 2022 it was 36.9%, a record-high figure.

Although we did see an increase in turnout in 2022, with voting taking place on a weekday, unlike previously, we may see a lower number.

The process of verifying vote-counting officials will be strengthened after accusations in 2020 that Chinese voting officials may have rigged votes during the general election.

The NEC emphasized that it will be hiring all 260-thousand voting and counting officials as Korean nationals.

Ballot boxes will be monitored around the clock, and the NEC will also operate a "Fair Election Observation Team" for the first time to observe the entire election process from voting to counting.

The NEC also announced that, in this presidential election, the number of voters per hour will be disclosed by each polling station for the first time.

One more question before you go Sung-jin .

It's past five P.M. as we speak with less than one hour left before polling places close their doors for day one of the two-day early voting period.

How many voters have cast their ballots thus far?

Right, now as, of 4 PM, at the poll station I'm at 6,683 people have voted, and the total for Seoul is 1,295,881.

Other major cities like Busan saw 382,308 people, Daegu 210,174, and Sejong 52,996.

However, as we pass 5 PM, new figures should be out, which I will be back with for our later newscast.

All right then Sung-jin thank you for that coverage and do keep us posted.