I don't know much about South Korean politics besides Wikipedia-cribbing and stuff I've picked up along the way, but South Korea held local government elections today.
These elections were for the governors of 9 provinces (including Jeju) and metropolitan mayors of the 8 first-level cities (Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, Ulsan and Sejong), the 226 heads/mayors/whatever of the second-level administrative divisions known as cities, counties or districts, the members of the provincial/first-level cities/second-level divisions councils, 17 school superintendents as well as legislative by-elections in 12 districts.
According to results on KBS, the ruling liberal Democratic Party has won by a landslide, crushing the main conservative opposition currently going by the name 'Liberty Korea Party' and the new centre-right Bareunmirae Party. The liberals won 14 of the 17 gubernatorial/metro mayoral elections, with an independent (the incumbent governor, a right-wing dissident) winning the island of Jeju and the conservatives only saving the traditional conservative bulwarks of North Gyeongsang and Daegu. From the last local elections in 2014, the liberals gained Incheon, Busan and Ulsan as well as Gyeonggi (the largest province surrounding Seoul and Incheon) and South Gyeongsang provinces.
In Seoul, liberal mayor Park Won-soon, first elected in 2011, was reelected with 53% against 23% for the conservative and 19.6% for 2017 presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo of the Bareunmirae Party. The liberals won in the traditionally right-leaning cities of Busan and Ulsan, defeating incumbents in both cities by wide margins (53-40 in Ulsan, 55-37 in Busan). In a return to the typical regionalism of days past, the liberals won over 70% in Jeolla (South and North Jeolla provinces) and 84% in Gwangju.
In the local (municipal?) races, liberals won 151 of the 226 second-level divisions against 53 for the conservatives, 17 independents and five for the new progressive Democracy and Peace Party. Liberals also won 11 of the 12 by-elections, which means a gain of several seats, with the conservatives only winning one of the seats. Candidates seen as 'liberal' or 'progressive' also nearly all of the school superintendent elections.
This is a major victory for liberal President Moon Jae-in, elected last year, who remains very popular with approval ratings around 75% and the recent talks with North Korea have further boosted his popularity. On the other hand, it is a humiliating defeat for the opposition, both the traditional conservatives and the new Bareunmirae Party (a fairly incoherent 'third way' merger of dissident right-wingers and most of Ahn Cheol-soo's former party).
Results (in Korean):
http://2018vote.kbs.co.kr/index.html
