Presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People's Party on Monday renewed his resolve to finish the presidential race on his own after scrapping a potential merger with main opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol.

Ahn revealed in a Facebook post that he visited a museum dedicated to revered Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun on Sunday just hours before he held a press conference to announce the withdrawal of his offer to merge campaigns with Yoon of the People Power Party (PPP).

"Martyr Ahn said we should think of justice when we see benefit, and offer our lives when our country is in crisis," he wrote, referring to the national hero who shot dead the first Japanese governor-general of Korea in 1909.

"Martyr Ahn fought not against the past but for the future. As I left the museum, I vowed again to honor his sacred wishes," he said. "I am restarting my presidential campaign with a heart of starting again from scratch."

The candidate has the same surname as the independence fighter, but they are not related.

Sunday's announcement came as a surprise as Ahn and Yoon had been expected to merge their campaigns to boost the opposition's chances of winning the March 9 election against Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party.

Yoon and Lee are neck and neck at around 40 percent support each, while Ahn has around 10 percent support in polls.

Rep. Kwon Young-se, Yoon's campaign chief, indicated the PPP has not given up hope for a last-minute deal.

"We will continue to work for a change of government," he told reporters after a meeting of the campaign committee, declining to give details out of courtesy to Ahn. (Yonhap)