Let's begin with the local elections held in South Korea on Wednesday.
All ballots have been counted,... and it was a landslide victory for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.
Voter turnout was the second highest ever for a local election,... coming in above 60 percent for the first time in more than 20 years.
Kim Min-ji reports. This year's local elections were a massive win for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea... and an unmitigated disaster for the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.
Out of 17 posts for mayor and governor,... the ruling party claimed victory in 14.
What's especially significant about these positions is that they are seen as a springboard to key national leadership positions in the future.
The party dominated the heavily populated areas of Seoul and its neighboring Gyeonggi-do Province.
Likewise they took seats in the central districts, including Daejeon, on top of the usual liberal strongholds, such as Jeolla-do Province.
And even in conservative strongholds -- with the exception of two regions,... Ulsan, Busan and Gyeongsangnam-do Province were taken by the ruling party.
On Jeju Island, an independent candidate was elected.

With that, the ruling party has been given an important boost,... having added five governor and mayoral seats to the nine it had already.

"Our win is a victory for the people. We should repay voters who cast their ballots for us. We will do our best as the ruling party,... take a more humble approach... and thoroughly deal with pending issues."

Pundits have pointed to the positive developments in regards to North Korea,... saying the uptick in South-North relations.... and President Moon Jae-in's high approval ratings were favorable factors for the ruling party in this year's local elections.
And the fact the elections were largely overshadowed by the North Korea-U.S. summit,.. fresh allegations regarding the candidates themselves,... or even ongoing issues such as an online opinion rigging scandal or even the faltering economy,... were pushed out of the spotlight.

At the other end of the spectrum, the main opposition party wasn't able to position itself as a strong alternative.
It still hasn't been able to completely sever its ties to impeached former president Park Geun-hye,... and it's been more or less critical of everything the government has been doing -- with voters unable to regain much trust in the party.

"It's the first time we've experienced such a devastating loss. We humbly accept the results."

The outcome might lead to some serious political reshuffling down the road -- which could come in the form of a change in party leadership, and later perhaps,... the formation of a coalition,... or defections to other parties.

There's no doubt the results give the ruling party a massive boost in that it will be easier to get President Moon's policy agendas rolling,... but some experts also say it's important to keep a balance between the progressive and conserv