The impeached South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Thursday urged his people to cast ballots for the 299 lawmakers up for election in the 17th NationalAssembly.

While voting at a school near the Blue House, the Presidential Office, early in the morning, Roh said: "Everybody, let's cast ballots."

This is Roh's first public appearance outside of the Blue Housesince March 12, when he was impeached for alleged illegal campaigning, corruption and incompetence by the opposition-controlled parliament.

First lady Kwon Yang-sook accompanied Roh to the ballot box.

"It's been long since we last made an outing," Roh said. "My wife liked it very much to go out for voting."

Roh has been spending time reading books and hiking in the mountains near the Blue House since his impeachment.

His aides have been briefing him about developments in state affairs.

The Constitutional Court has 180 days from March 12 to either uphold or dismiss the parliamentary impeachment motion.

Moreover, Acting President and Prime Minister Goh Kun also casthis ballot earlier Thursday morning in central Seoul.

The balloting started at 6:00 a.m. (2100 GMT Wednesday) and it will end 12 hours later on Thursday. Final results will be available around the night.

More people are continuing to come out to vote Thursday morningthan in previous years, said the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs.

Around 2.9 million voters have cast their ballots as of 8 a.m. (2300 GMT Wednesday), a turnout of 8.21 percent, the ministry said.

The number stood at 6.9 percent in the 2000 general election and 6.4 percent in the 2002 presidential race, it added.

The polls will elect members to the 299 seats of the 17th National Assembly, among which 243 will be directly elected, whilethe rest 56 will be decided by proportional representation.

Some 35.6 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the election.

According to a poll by the National Election Commission (NEC) on Tuesday, 77.2 percent of respondents said they would "definitely" turn up at the voting stations, up 31.1 percentage points from a similar survey ahead of the previous general election in 2000.

Voter turnout in the 2000 election was 57.2 percent, a record low.

Source: Xinhua