SEOUL - Moon Jae-in of the liberal Democratic Party led media exit polls in the Republic of Korea's presidential election by a large margin, a survey conducted for three local broadcasters showed Tuesday.

Moon came closer to becoming the ROK's 19th president, with 41.4 percent support, beating conservative and centrist rivals by a wide margin. The Associated Press reported late on Tuesday that the two key rivals, Hong Joonpyo of the conservative Liberty Korea Party and Ahn Cheolsoo of the centrist People's Party, had conceded defeat.

Moon, who declared victory, had about twice as many votes in the exit polls as his closest competitor. Hong's party ousted President Park Geun-hye.