In a month of rising tensions on the Korean peninsula over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, Moon has criticised the hard line pursued by Park and her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, pointing out that a decade of conservative rule had done nothing to arrest the regime’s nuclear programme. Significantly, North Korea indicated that Moon was its favoured candidate, with state media recently calling on South Korean voters to “punish the puppet group of conservatives” associated with Park.