South Korea's presidential candidate Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party raises his hands as his party leaders and members watch on television local media's results of exit polls for the presidential election in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 9, 2017. Exit polls forecast that liberal candidate Moon will win the election Tuesday to succeed ousted President Park Geun-hye. Official results weren't expected for hours, but the exit poll of about 89,000 voters at 330 polling stations, jointly commissioned by three major television stations and released just after polls closed, showed Moon receiving 41.4 percent of the vote. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korea's presidential candidate Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party raises his hands as his party leaders and members watch on television local media's results of exit polls for the presidential election in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 9, 2017. Exit polls forecast that liberal candidate Moon will win the election Tuesday to succeed ousted President Park Geun-hye. Official results weren't expected for hours, but the exit poll of about 89,000 voters at 330 polling stations, jointly commissioned by three major television stations and released just after polls closed, showed Moon receiving 41.4 percent of the vote. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Seoul, South Korea — Hours after celebrating his election win with thousands of supporters in wet Seoul streets, newly elected South Korean President Moon Jae-in today will be thrown into the job of navigating a nation deeply split over its future and faced with growing threats from North Korea and an uneasy alliance with the United States.

Moon, whose victory capped one of the most turbulent political stretches in the nation’s recent history and set up its first liberal rule in a decade, will begin his presidential duties after the National Election Commission officially declares him as winner in a meeting that was scheduled for this morning. The election body had finished voting as of 6 a.m., with Moon gathering 41 percent of the votes.

Moon’s first schedule as president was expected to be a morning visit to the National Cemetery in the central city of Daejeon, where the country’s independence fighters and war heroes are buried. He will then return to capital Seoul for an inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly.

South Korea might see a sharp departure from recent policy under Moon, who favors closer ties with North Korea, saying hard-line conservative governments did nothing to prevent the North’s development of nuclear-armed missiles and only reduced South Korea’s voice in international efforts to counter North Korea.

This softer approach might put him at odds with South Korea’s biggest ally, the United States. The Trump administration has swung between threats and praise for North Korea’s leader.

Moon’s presidency foregoes the usual two-month transition because Tuesday’s vote was a by-election to choose a successor to Park, whose term was to end in February 2018.