Former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo is quitting politics. 

Hong made the announcement Tuesday in a news conference, shortly after he was eliminated in the second round of the People Power Party primary in the run-up to the June 3 presidential election. 

Hong thanked the public and party members for supporting him for the past three decades.

The former mayor entered politics when he was elected as a lawmaker in the 15th general elections in 1996. 

Hong went on to serve four consecutive terms in the National Assembly. 

He served his fifth term in the 21st National Assembly. 

He had served as the floor leader and then leader of the conservative Grand National Party as well as the governor of South Gyeongsang Province. 

He ran in the 19th presidential elections in 2018 as the Liberty Korea Party candidate, but lost to Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea.