Former Yoon Ally Withdraws from Daegu Mayoral Race After Party Snub

SEOUL, April 25 (Yonhap) -- Lee Jin-sook, a former broadcasting watchdog chief under ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol, said Saturday she would not run for the Daegu mayorship after being excluded from the main opposition People Power Party's (PPP) primary. The former head of the Korea Media and Communications Commission has left open the option of running as an independent candidate in the June 3 local elections since her exclusion from the party's nomination process about a month ago. The party cited the need to nominate a candidate with economic expertise rather than political experience to revive the economy of the declining metropolitan city. Lee is known for her political ties to the disgraced former president. "I am stepping down as a preliminary candidate for Daegu mayor," she said during a press conference at the party's office in Daegu, some 250 kilometers southeast of Seoul. "I will back the party's nominee, once selected in the primary tomorrow, to defeat the Democratic Party contender." She criticized the nomination committee's decision as "unfair" and said she had considered running as an independent. However, Lee said concerns about a potential opposition victory in the conservative stronghold ultimately led her to stay out of the race.