Kang Ki-kab, the chairman of the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party, said Monday he is stepping down to take responsibility for the party’s split.

Four lawmakers quit the embattled party Friday after months of factional infighting over an allegedly rigged primary race ahead of April’s parliamentary elections.

The self-expulsions came as little surprise as the party’s two factions have made no headway in their talks to resolve their differences over the voting scandal.

“I have put in my all to prevent a split of the party, but all of that has come to nothing,” Kang, 59, told a news conference at the National Assembly.

The announcement came less than two months after the reformist chief took office through a nationwide vote. His election raised hopes the party would expel two lawmakers accused of involvement in the voting scandal and form an alliance with the main opposition Democratic United Party ahead of December’s presidential election.

However, the mainstream faction, to which the two scandal-ridden lawmakers belong, refused to give in, while stirring further controversy over its alleged espousal of North Korea’s guiding “juche” philosophy of self-reliance.

In an emotional speech lasting several minutes, Kang said he is also leaving the party and his political career to return to his family and home.

“I plan to take a path of atonement and penance as I have become a sinner in the history of progressive political parties,”he said.

Kang’s resignation is widely expected to set off a new wave of defections, with three lawmakers of the minor faction reportedly planning to join the four who have already left to form a new progressive party.

Meanwhile, Rep. Lee Sang-gyu of the mainstream faction told reporters his group will seek legal action against the four lawmakers’ self-expulsions, which is unprecedented in the country’s political history. (Yonhap News)