Software mogul quits opposition party

SEOUL: A popular South Korean software mogul who ran for president in 2012 said yesterday he was quitting the main opposition party in a major blow to the embattled left-leaning alliance before a general election.

Ahn Cheol-soo, announcing his departure from the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), said it had “no hope” of beating the ruling conservatives in the April parliamentary vote and accused other NPAD leaders of incompetence.

Mr Ahn, founder of Seoul’s top computer anti-virus maker, rose to political stardom as a centrist independent candidate in the presidential poll based on his popularity among young voters.

He dropped out of the race to support the main opposition candidate Moon Jae-in, who lost to the conservative Park Geun-hye.

Mr Ahn later won a parliamentary seat as a liberal independent before forging an alliance with Mr Moon’s party to try to unify the opposition vote.

But the alliance faltered in recent months as Mr Ahn accused other opposition leaders including Mr Moon of being complacent and resisting reforms needed to win the 2016 general election.

“The current main opposition party has no hope for our people ... we have no hope for government change, including the general election, if we continue this way,” he told a news conference.

“I have reached the conclusion that any change and reform is impossible in this party,” he said without elaborating on whether he would create his own party.

The NPAD has for years lagged the ruling party in voter support. Several of its members vowed to follow Mr Ahn’s example.