South Korea: DP's Lee meets ex-President Moon as election looms

Democratic Party (DP) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung said on Friday that he met former President Moon Jae-in, with the presidential election just 11 days away.

The meeting between Lee and Moon came as they paid their respects at a memorial service marking the 16th anniversary of the death of former President Roh Moo-hyun in the village of Bongha, where Roh lived after his retirement.

It was the first time that the DP candidate met Moon since he won the nomination, Yonhap news agency reported.

During the meeting, Moon asked Lee to build a nation that respects the will of the people, the DP candidate told reporters.

They also raised concerns that the misuse of prosecutorial power played a significant role in deteriorating South Korea's institutions and deepening social division over the past three years, according to Rep. Cho Seung-rae, the DP's senior spokesperson.

Meanwhile, Lee was leading his People Power Party (PPP) rival Kim Moon-soo with 45 per cent support against Kim's 36 per cent, a survey showed Friday.

In a Gallup Korea survey conducted on 1,002 adults from Tuesday to Thursday, candidate Lee Jun-seok of the minor New Reform Party came in third with 10 per cent. Eight per cent said they were undecided.

The DP's Lee declined by 6 percentage points compared with a week earlier, while Kim and Lee Jun-seok saw increases of 7 percentage points and 2 percentage points, respectively.

The support for the liberal DP was at 42 per cent, compared with 36 per cent for the conservative PPP.

The margin of error was 3.1 percentage points at a 95 per cent confidence level, Yonhap news agency reported.

Meanwhile, four presidential candidates were also set to wrangle over social issues in their second TV debate on Friday.

Lee Jun-seok of the minor New Reform Party (NRP) garnered his first double-digit support, as Kim continued to appeal to the NRP candidate to merge their candidacies to better challenge the DP's Lee.

On Thursday, the NRP's Lee declared that he would not drop his candidacy until Election Day.

The three candidates and Kwon Young-kook of the minor Democratic Labor Party will take part in the debate at 8 p.m., hosted by the National Election Commission.

During the debate, the candidates will discuss ways to bridge social divisions and promote national unity, as well as pension and health care reforms, and climate change.