Independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo resigned in favor of Democratic United Party’s Moon Jae-in on Friday after prolonged negotiations over the candidate selection rules failed.

“I am relinquishing my role as a candidate. My becoming the president to bring in a new politics is important, but a politician keeping the promises he made to the public is the most important value of all,” Ahn said in a press conference. 

“The unified candidate is now Moon Jae-in, so reprimand me for all the discord during the process, and give Moon your support.” 



He went onto add that he will however remember the reason he was called to politics saying that he would continue to work for political reform.

The decision came after Moon and Ahn’s special envoys and the existing negotiating teams failed to reach an agreement over the format and wording of the opinion poll that will be used to decide the unified progressive candidate. 



By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)