Jang Se-Dong, Bowing Out of the Race

Jang Se-dong, who has run for the 16th presidential election on an independent ticket, bowed out of the race on Dec. 18. In a statement issued on that day, he said, “I decided to withdraw candidacy for the nation`s future and history. I would like to send my words of sorry and thank to all my supporters and aides for their endless support for me during the campaign trails.”

A close associate at his camp said, “As long as I know, Mr. Jang made up his mind to bow out of the race because he thought it would be meaningless for him to continue the race at a time when Roh Moo-hyun of the MDP and Lee Hoi-chang of the GNP are leading a close contest.” It has been known that Mr. Jang has no plan to endorse a particular candidate.

As a result, Jang`s withdrawal of his candidacy brought down the number of candidates running for this presidential election to six, including Kwan Young-gil of the DLP, Lee Han-dong of the Hanro National Coalitions, Kim Young-kue of the Socialist Party, and Kim Gil-soo of the National Defense Party, along with Lee Hoi-chang and Roh Moo-hyun.

Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com