South Korea's main opposition Democratic United Party on Wednesday elected a new interim leader to head the party reeling from the narrow defeat in the presidential election a month ago.

Moon Hee-sang, a five-term lawmaker who served as chief of staff to late President Roh Moo-hyun, was elected to lead the center-left party's emergency committee.

The 67-year-old, a moderate without factional affiliations, is filling the vacuum left by Lee Hae-chan, who was pressured into resigning by calls for political reform before the Dec. 19 election.

Last month, the party nominated Park Ki-choon as a floor leader after Park Jie-won stepped down over the election loss.