South Korea’s embattled conservative People Power Party abruptly canceled – then reinstated – Kim Moon-soo’s presidential candidacy on Saturday, exposing deepening internal rifts just weeks before the June 3 election.
The dramatic reversal came after a failed push to replace Kim with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, highlighting the PPP’s leadership crisis following the ouster of former President Yoon Suk Yeol in December over his imposition of martial law – an episode that may have doomed the party’s reelection hopes.
Kim, a hard-line conservative and former labor minister under Yoon, secured the nomination on May 3 with 56.3% of the primary vote, defeating a reformist rival who had condemned Yoon’s martial law decree. But Yoon loyalists in the party leadership spent the past week pressuring Kim to withdraw in favor of Han, whom they saw as more electable against liberal Democratic Party front-runner Lee Jae-myung.
After talks between Han and Kim failed to unify their candidacies, the PPP’s emergency committee took the unprecedented step early Saturday of nullifying its primary, canceling Kim’s nomination and registering Han as both a party member and its new presidential candidate. However, the replacement required approval through an all-party vote conducted via an automated phone survey, which ultimately rejected the switch on Saturday night.
“While we cannot disclose the figures, the vote on switching the candidate was rejected by a narrow margin,” party spokesperson and lawmaker Shin Dong-wook said.
Kim, who had denounced the party’s attempt to replace him as an “overnight political coup,” was immediately reinstated as the candidate and plans to officially register with election authorities on Sunday, according to the party.
“Now everything will return to its rightful place,” Kim said in a statement.
Kim, 73, was a prominent labor activist in the 1970s and ’80s, but joined a conservative party in the 1990s, saying he gave up his dream of becoming a “revolutionist” after witnessing the collapse of communist states. Since then, he has served eight years as governor of Gyeonggi province and completed three terms in the National Assembly.
Han served as acting president after Yoon was impeached by the legislature in December and officially removed by the Constitutional Court in April. He resigned from office May 2 to pursue a presidential bid, arguing that his long public service career qualifies him to lead the country amid growing geopolitical uncertainty and trade challenges intensified by the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Han, who had called for unity after being promoted as the candidate, said in a statement that he “humbly accepts” the voice of party members.
Both Han and Kim have lagged well behind Lee in recent opinion polls. Lee, who spearheaded the Democrats’ efforts to oust Yoon, ridiculed the PPP’s efforts to switch candidates, telling reporters Thursday, “I have heard of forced marriages, but never heard of forced unity.”
