'No one can breathe easy': Busan Buk-gap, Pyeongtaek-eul in dead heat, exit polls show

Leading candidates in two National Assembly by- and re-elections held alongside Wednesday's local elections — Busan Buk-gu Gap and Gyeonggi Province's Pyeongtaek-eul — are locked in extremely tight races, exit polls showed.

A joint exit poll by KBS, MBC and SBS, released at 6 p.m. Wednesday as voting closed, projected Democratic Party of Korea candidate Ha Jung-woo at 42.6 percent in the Busan Buk-gap by-election. Han Dong-hoon — expelled from the People Power Party and running as an independent — followed closely at 41.6 percent.

In the Pyeongtaek-eul re-election, where five candidates produced a three-way contest, the poll projected Cho Kuk of the Rebuilding Korea Party at 31.1 percent, PPP candidate Yoo Eui-dong at 30.6 percent and Democratic Party candidate Kim Yong-nam at 30.3 percent.

Of the 14 constituencies holding by- or re-elections Wednesday, the joint exit poll covered only Busan Buk-gap and Pyeongtaek-eul, the two races drawing the most public attention.

JTBC's separate projection survey showed a different picture in Buk-gap, with Han leading at 48.1 percent against Ha's 37.6 percent — a margin of 10.5 percentage points. In Pyeongtaek-eul, JTBC projected Kim at 34.2 percent and Cho at 31.6 percent.

Source: KBS-MBC-SBS joint exit poll and JTBC projection survey.