内容摘要：Gen Breuer singled out the so-called Suwalki Gap, an area that borders Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Belarus, as one of the most vulnerable.

Gen Breuer singled out the so-called Suwalki Gap, an area that borders Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Belarus, as one of the most vulnerable.

When people vote on Tuesday, it will be six months to the day since they came out onto the streets to resist a military takeover.After months of chaos, they are desperate to move forward, so the country can start addressing pressing issues that have been on hold, including tariff negotiations with US President Donald Trump.

But more than anything they hope this election can restore their own confidence in their democracy, which has been badly shaken.At a baseball game in the capital Seoul last week – arguably the only place where Koreans are as tribal as they are about politics – both sides were united, acutely aware of this election's importance."I'm really concerned about our democracy," said Dylan, a data engineer. "I hope we have the power to save it and make it greater than before. My vote is a piece of power."

"The next president needs to show people clearly and transparently what he is doing," said one man in his mid-20s. "We need to watch him carefully."If Lee is to win, and by the margin the polls suggest, he would have a solid mandate, as well as control of parliament, giving him three years to implement major political reforms.

That could be good for rebuilding South Korea's stability but would come with its own challenges, said the political analyst Ms Kim.

"If Lee wins, he will have a lot of power. {Given how Yoon behaved} he will need to be very responsible when using it."This year was also Rhys Thomas' first time at Hay Festival.

He had a "full circle" moment watching poet John Cooper Clarke take to the stage, after first seeing him while working at his local festival aged 16."I just didn't realise that poetry and literature could have that raw edge to it," he said.

"He was funny, he was swearing. He's a rock and roll star who uses poems instead of guitar solos."Rhys, a journalist from Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, said it was not until he moved to England for university that he started immersing himself in books and writing.