Anchor: Main opposition Democratic Party(DP) Rep. Hong Young-pyo, who was excluded from party nominations for the April general elections, announced on Wednesday that he is leaving the party. He is the sixth incumbent DP lawmaker who bolted out of the main opposition amid controversies surrounding the candidate nomination at the DP.  Mired in discord over its candidate nominations, the main opposition is criticizing President Yoon Suk Yeol for what it called illegal political campaigns. 
With 35 days left until the April general elections, our Bae Joo-yon has wrapped up latest as the two sides are in the final stages of nominating candidates.

Report: Main opposition Democratic Party(DP) Rep. Hong Young-pyo announced on Wednesday that he is leaving the party. 

Regarded as a loyalist to former President Moon Jae-in, the fourth-term former floor leader was excluded from party nominations after Moon's former chief of staff Im Jong-seok failed to win his nomination. 

Im is remaining in the party but Hong is the sixth DP legislator to bolt out of the party after failing to win candidacy, including Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Kim Young-joo and other opposition heavyweights. 

Hong told reporters that the DP leadership is focused on getting rid of dissenters within the party rather than winning the elections, calling the party nomination process a “political massacre.” 

Hong criticized the main opposition as being a “fake Democratic Party,” and vowed to gather those who have withdrawn from the party and fight against what he called the privatization of power in the DP.  

DP chair Lee Jae-myung defended the party’s candidate nomination process, saying it was conducted in a fair and transparent manner. 

The main opposition chief argued that his party's nomination processes are being framed as unfair due to the inevitable pain needed for the sake of change. 

Meanwhile, the ruling People Power Party(PPP) is content that its candidate nomination worked out without any serious glitches despite replacing around 35 percent of incumbent lawmakers from the candidate roster.

Amid controversies surrounding its candidate nominations, the main opposition is raising issues with President Yoon Suk Yeol for what it called illegal political campaigns. 

Meanwhile, DP floor leader Hong Ihk-pyo urged President Yoon to immediately stop holding the nationwide forums on people’s livelihood, referring to them as illegal election campaigning. 

Hong said that for two months now, the president has continued to intervene in the electoral process and has promised to provide some 925 trillion won in a bid to help his party win the elections. 
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.