Early voting for the upcoming general elections kicked off on Friday.
Voters can cast their ballot early in any of the 3,511 voting stations at district offices across the country from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Unlike absentee voting, early voting does not require prior notification.
There are also early voting stations at Incheon International Airport as well as Seoul and Yongsan train stations. The locations can be found on the National Election Commission's website www.nec.go.kr or by downloading the NEC's app.
Ballots will be stored at locations guarded by NEC monitors and counted on election day.
Political parties are keenly eyeing the turnout. The number of advance voters has increased steadily from 4.78 percent in by-elections in April 2013 to 11.4 percent for local elections in June 2014, and turnout trends have tended to spill over into election day.
The opposition camps have been particularly active trying to mobilize advance voters because they feel that young voters will opt to cast their ballots early so they can take election day off for other activities.
But analysts say turnout in early voting is merely one of many factors that influence overall results and cannot be viewed as particularly favorable to one political group.
