MDP race down to 5 aspirants

North Jeolla Governor You Jong-keun dropped out of the Millennium Democratic Party's presidential race Thursday as allegations that he had accepted a bribe swirled around him.

Mr. You also quit his party.

"With only a few days until the Gwangju primary, the prosecution leaked to the press that it would begin investigating me, making it impossible to continue the race," Mr. You said at a press conference in Seoul. He maintained his innocence in the bribery case.

Mr. You stood a distant sixth out of seven candidates after the ruling party's initial round of primary votes last weekend. His withdrawal reshapes the ongoing primary into a five-way competition among Representatives Rhee In-je, Hahn Hwa-kap, Chung Dong-young, and party senior advisers Kim Joong-kwon and Noh Mu-hyun.

The Supreme Prosecutors Office on Thursday said that it would summon Mr. You on Monday for questioning. Two days ago, the office said it would investigate allegations that in 1995 the governor had accepted a bribe of 400 million won ($310,000) from the Sepoong Group, which wanted to hold an international Grand Prix race in Gunsan, North Jeolla province. As governor, he allegedly rezoned a 3.5 million-square-meter property in Gunsan for the race course to be built on the site.

Mr. You's aides attributed the governor's withdrawal to his lackluster performance at the first 2 of 16 primaries. They also raised the possibility of a conspiracy by powerful members in the ruling camp.

"The governor received threats, coercion and slander from core insiders of the administration whenever he spoke out for reforming the conglomerates and criticized the government-led restructuring of banks," said Park Young-seok, a strategic planner for Mr. You's campaign. He said a "well known political heavyweight" had phoned Mr. You and urged him to quit the race for the good of the party.

Mr. You had served as special economic adviser to the president at the outset of the Kim Dae-jung administration, coinciding with the onset of the 1997 financial crisis.

Mr. You since then has largely stayed out of central government activity, focusing on boosting the economy of North Jeolla.

In the Jeju and Ulsan primaries he got just 38 votes ?2.3 percent of the total. Only Representative Kim Keun-tae, who collected 26 votes, stood lower, and he dropped out of the race on Tuesday.

In Gunsan, aides of the former Gunsan city mayor, Kim Kil-joon, charged on Thursday that the Sepoong Group lobbied the mayor with a sports bag full of money in July 1996. They also said that Mr. You came to city hall the next month to speak on behalf of the group, stressing that "Hosting the Grand Prix would contribute to the local economy."

by Park Shin-hong