South Korea’s embattled conservative party has taken the unprecedented step of nullifying its primary and replacing presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo just one week after Kim’s selection, deepening internal turmoil ahead of the June 3 presidential election.
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Saturday’s move by the People Power Party’s (PPP) leadership, which Kim denounced as an “overnight political coup”, underscores the desperation and disarray within the party following the ouster of former President Yoon Suk-yeol over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law in December.
Kim, a staunch conservative and former labour minister under Yoon, was named the PPP’s presidential candidate on May 3 after winning 56.3 per cent of the primary vote, defeating a reformist rival who had criticised Yoon’s martial law.
But the PPP’s leadership, dominated by Yoon loyalists, has spent the past week pressuring Kim to step aside and back Han, whom they believe stands a better chance against liberal Democratic Party front runner Lee Jae-myung.
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 his long public service career qualifies him to lead the country amid growing geopolitical uncertainty and trade challenges intensified by the policies of US President Donald Trump.
After failed talks between Han and Kim to unify their candidacies, the PPP’s emergency committee cancelled Kim’s nomination in the early hours of Saturday and officially registered Han as a party member and its new presidential candidate.
The replacement still requires confirmation through an all-party vote on Saturday and approval by the party’s national committee on Sunday, which is the deadline for candidates to register with the election authorities.