Lee Jae-myung: The man set to take over South Korea's turbulent democracy

The crowd outside Seoul Children's Grand Park was a few hundred strong, many of them holding blue balloons and some with flags on flexible poles about 10 metres tall. The mood was buoyant, principally because their Democratic Party candidate, Lee Jae-myung (61), was more than 10 points ahead in the polls. He is on course to win South Korea's presidential election next Tuesday. Warm-up speakers reminded supporters that early voting was under way (more than 20 per cent of eligible voters had cast their ballots by Friday morning) and led chants of the candidate's name. Then local politicians dressed in…