Ex-President Yoon asked to leave ruling party to help win South Korea's snap polls

ISTANBUL

The new interim leader of the People Power Party (PPP) on Thursday urged former President Yoon Suk Yeol to leave the ruling party to boost its chances in the June 3 presidential election, as it trails behind the Democratic Party (DP), Yonhap News reported.

Kim Yong-tae, speaking at a press conference after being named interim PPP leader, said: "I believe the (former) president (Yoon) will make a rational decision," and added: "As the interim leader, I would respectfully recommend the president leave the party."

Separately, the ruling party's presidential election candidate Kim Moon-soo on Thursday apologized for Yoon’s unsuccessful attempt to impose martial law on Dec. 03.

The development came after a new survey on Thursday confirmed that South Korea's opposition candidate Lee Jae-myung maintains a commanding lead over the ruling party nominee in the runup to June 3 snap presidential election, local media reported.

Lee, the Democratic Party (DP) candidate, is leading his People Power Party (PPP) rival Kim Moon-soo with 49% support against Kim's 27%, a National Barometer Survey (NBS) said, according to Seoul-based Yonhap News.

Lee Jun-seok, the candidate of the minor New Reform Party, came next with 7% support.

Some 57% of respondents said they were in favor of a change in administration by the DP through the June 3 presidential election, while 32% hoped to extend the rule of the former governing PPP.

The liberal DP leads the opinion poll with 42% overall support, while the conservative PPP has 28% support.

The poll follows months of political turbulence in South Korea, including a failed bid in December to declare martial law.

The survey was done by pollsters Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research, and Hankook Research on 1,000 people age 18 and older.

*Aamir Latif contributed to the story from Pakistan.