South Korea's ex-president Yoon leaves party ahead of presidential election

SEOUL -- Former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol announced departure from his conservative People Power Party on Saturday ahead of the June 3 presidential election.

"I'm leaving the People Power Party today. I bow down to my comrades in the party who believed in me and stayed with me for a long time," Yoon said in an online statement.

Yoon noted that his departure from the party, he believed, would be the best way he can to win the snap presidential election and protect the country's liberal democracy.

Calls recently emerged for Yoon to leave the party to woo swing voters in the upcoming election, caused by Yoon's botched martial law bid, his impeachment and his permanent removal from office.

Yoon asked the public to join forces with Kim Moon-soo, presidential candidate of the People Power Party, and cast their ballots in the June 3 election to safeguard freedom, sovereignty and prosperity.

In recent polls, Kim lagged far behind Lee Jae-myung, the majority liberal Democratic Party's presidential candidate who lost the 2022 presidential election to Yoon by the country's narrowest margin of 0.73 percentage points.

According to local pollster Flower Research's survey of 4,016 voters from Monday to Thursday, Lee gained a support rate of 51.7 percent while Kim took 28.7 percent.