Lawyer Cho Soo-jin, the main opposition Democratic Party’s candidate in Gangbuk B district in Seoul, announced her resignation from candidacy in the upcoming general elections amid controversy over her previous legal defense of sex offenders.

The resignation comes three days after she was selected as the party’s candidate after beating sitting lawmaker Park Yong-jin in a primary.

Cho announced her resignation on social media on Friday morning, saying that as a lawyer, she always did her best for clients, and she was ready to do the same for the Gangbuk residents and the people if elected. 

Cho added that however, it seems this was different from what the people wanted and said if she participates in the race, the controversy surrounding her will continue during the election period.

Cho came under fire over her history of providing legal representation to sex offenders.

The DP needs to nominate a new candidate for the district by Friday, the deadline for candidate registration for the April 10 general elections. 

Earlier, former Rep. Chung Bong-joo was selected as the party’s candidate for the district after beating Park in a primary, but the party canceled Chung’s nomination due to controversy over a false apology to soldiers affected by North Korea’s wooden-box mines in the Demilitarized Zone in 2015. Then Cho won the nomination after beating Park in another primary.