A lawmaker-elect quit the ruling Saenuri Party Wednesday over allegations that he attempted to rape the wife of his late brother 10 years ago, a party official said.

Kim Hyung-tae, 60, who was elected in a district in the southeastern city of Pohang in last week's general elections, denies the allegations, but decided to leave the party in order not to put a burden on the party and its leader, the party official said.

Kim plans to hold a press conference later in the day, the official said.

The party had been considering expelling Kim.

A journalist-turned-politician, Kim has been accused of attempting to rape the wife of his late brother in 2002 in his studio apartment, commonly known here as officetel, after asking her to visit Seoul from her home in Busan to discuss tuition for her son.

The sister-in-law said she fought off the rape attempt.

Her husband died of cancer in 1995.

She filed the allegations with the rival candidate in Kim's district ahead of the April 11 parliamentary elections, claiming that an attempted rapist should not be elected a lawmaker.

Kim has rejected the accusations as a political smear campaign.

But the alleged victim made public the audio recording of a conversation purportedly between Kim and her son, where a man believed to be Kim acknowledged the wrongdoing and offered an apology.

Kim's departure will leave the party with 151 seats in the 300-member new National Assembly.

The party has also been considering taking action against another lawmaker-elect, Moon Dae-sung, over allegations of plagiarism in an academic paper for his Ph.D degree.

A former taekwondo athlete, Moon, 36, rose to stardom after winning gold in the 2004 Athens Olympics with a spectacular kick in the final. He later became an athlete member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and a professor at a university in Busan.

Moon denies the plagiarism allegations. (Yonhap News)