Ahn Cheol-soo quits South Korean race for presidency
Ahn Cheol-soo endorses poll rival to shore up opposition vote against conservative favourite
South Korean software mogul Ahn Cheol-soo gave up his bid to become president yesterday and endorsed another opposition candidate, setting the stage for a close race with conservative favourite Park Geun-hye to lead Asia's fourth largest economy.
Opinion polls had shown that Park, daughter of the country's assassinated leader Park Chung-hee, would have easily won the December 19 election if the opposition had fielded two candidates and split the vote.
But Ahn's decision to step aside leaves Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyer and the candidate of the left-of-centre main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), as Park's main challenger.
"Moon Jae-in is the single candidate ... send Moon Jae-in your support," Ahn, who was running as an independent with a strong backing of urban and young professional voters, told a news conference.
South Korea's economy and relations with North Korea are two of the main issues in the election to replace President Lee Myung-bak, who is serving a five-year term ending in February and cannot run again.
Jae-in has pledged to resume unconditional aid to North Korea and to tighten regulation on big business.