Voter turnout at 68.1% as of 3 p.m.

Officials check the voter turnout for the presidential election on Wednesday, at a government complex in the administrative city of Sejong. (Yonhap)

Voter turnout for South Korea's presidential election stood at 68.1 percent as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, as more than 30 million people participated in the polls, according to the country's election authorities.

Out of the total 44.2 million eligible voters nationwide, 30.1 million, or 68.1 percent, have cast their ballots at 14,464 polling stations since the voting started at 6 a.m., the National Election Commission (NEC) said.

The preliminary tally, which included the results of the two-day early voting, was higher than 63.7 percent reported at the same time in the previous presidential election in 2017.

By region, Seoul recorded 68.1 percent, the surrounding province of Gyeonggi 66.9 percent and the western port city of Incheon 65.4 percent.

South Jeolla Province posted the highest rate of 75.3 percent, while the southern resort island of Jeju registered the lowest turnout of 64.8 percent.

More than 16 million, or 36.9 percent of the total, already cast their ballots in the early voting Friday and Saturday. (Yonhap)