After urgent demands for his resignation from powerful members of Our Open Party, Chung Dong-young, the party's chairman stepped down last night as the chief campaign manager. 
He was forced out over an embarrassing gaffe in which he suggested Korea would be better off if senior citizens did not vote.

Mr. Chung, a former broadcaster, also gave up a seat in the upcoming legislative elections that would be awarded him on the basis of proportional voter support for the party.
"I will continue playing my role as the party's chairman for two days until the Election Day," Mr. Chung said in a nationwide televised address at the party's headquarters. "I will assume all responsibility after the election depending on the outcome."

In an interview last month with an Internet news organization, Mr. Chung said "Those in their 60s and 70s don't have to vote. They have played their parts, and are about to retire from the stage, so they can rest at home." 

Earlier yesterday, five prominent members of the party rebelled and publicly called for Mr. Chung's resignation over the remarks. 

With anger unabated among senior citizens over the statement, Kwon Ki-hong, Lee Young-tak, Yoon Deok-hong, Yoon Yong-hee and Seo Joong-hyun, all Open Party candidates running for National Assembly seats in Daegu and North Gyeongsang province, called a press conference in Daegu to urge Mr. Chung to quit. 

Two of the politicians served in President Kim Dae-jung's cabinet. Mr. Kwon is a former labor minister and Yoon Deok-hong is a former deputy prime minister for education. Mr. Lee is a former director of the prime minister's office. 

"Mr. Chung must give up not only the party chairman and chief campaign manager posts, but also his nomination for the proportional representation seat in the upcoming vote," they said. "That is the only way for the party to overcome this crisis."

The candidates said their party's aim is not to become the majority party in the National Assembly. "We want to unite the people, overcome regionalism and become a political party representing the nation as a whole," the candidates said. "Mr. Chung's remark denouncing elderly voters created a split between the classes, hindering our party's goal." 

Mr. Chung said he would begin a hunger strike in an appeal to voters to end perennial regionalism in the country among the electorate. 

He did not say who would succeed him with two days to go before the vote.