内容摘要：Caoimhe Austin, from Londonderry, has been on the housing waiting list for three years and said she feels "despair" following Monday's announcement.

Caoimhe Austin, from Londonderry, has been on the housing waiting list for three years and said she feels "despair" following Monday's announcement.

Closer to home, relations with North Korea are a persistent challenge. While 2025 has been relatively uneventful, the year before saw heightened tensions as Kim Jong Un escalated the rhetoric, and both sides spent months sending balloons and drones carrying propaganda materials across the border.South Korea's new leader must also balance Seoul's relations between its biggest trading partner, Beijing, and its most important security ally, Washington.

Then there is the task of arresting the country's declining birth rate, which is among the lowest in the world - 0.75.Polls have placed Lee Jae-myung of the main opposition Democratic Party as the frontrunner among six candidates, followed by Kim Moon-soo from the ruling PPP.Lee, who lost to Yoon by a razor-thin margin in 2022, is hailed by his supporters as a working class hero. He worked in a factory before he became a human rights lawyer and politician. He has promised to establish a "real Republic of Korea" with jobs and a fair society.

Kim, a former labour minister, has positioned himself as a president for the economy, promising to create a business-friendly environment.The other candidates are Lee Jun-seok of the New Reform Party, Kwon Young-guk of the Democratic Labor Party and two independents - Hwang Kyo-ahn and Song Jin- ho.

For the first time in 18 years, there is no woman running for president. The first woman to run for president was Hong Suk-Ja in 1987, but she withdrew before the vote. The election in 2012 saw four female candidates contest for the top job.

The election is scheduled on 3 June and voting precincts will be open from 06:00 local time (22:00 GMT) to 20:00. South Koreans overseas were allowed to vote early from 20 to 25 May.Part of the separatists' strategy to weaken the state and its security forces is to push for a ban on education which they say is a tool of government propaganda.

In October 2020, a school in Kumba was attacked. No-one claimed responsibility for the atrocity but the government blamed separatists. Men armed with machetes and guns killed at least seven children.The incident sparked, for a brief moment, international outrage and condemnation.

"Nearly half the schools in this region have been shut," says journalist Eyong."A whole generation of kids is missing out on their education. Imagine the impact this will have for our communities and also for our country."