A win for the left-of-center frontrunner in South Korea’s presidential election would likely herald more caution by Seoul over taking sides in US-China rivalry, a new effort to draw North Korea into dialogue and the potential for tension with Japan.

South Korea's liberal frontrunner for president, Lee Jae-myung, was leading his main conservative rival Kim Moon-soo by more than 10 percentage points in an opinion poll issued on Tuesday, though the race has tightened a week ahead of the election.

Women took the lead in the protests against South Korea’s last president. But the men running to replace him are saying little about the discrimination they face.