Kim Moon-soo, 74, a former labor minister for Yoon Suk-yeol, who was removed from the presidency on April 4, was elected as the People Power Party’s presidential candidate on May 3.
According to the results announced by the head of the party’s election commission on Saturday, Kim received 56.53 percent of the votes, while Han Dong-hoon, the former leader of the party and the right-hand man for Yoon when both served as prosecutors, received 43.47 percent.
Kim was widely expected to win the primary elections. The majority of PPP’s lawmakers – and Kim – have strongly supported Yoon and even justified his illegitimate decision to declare martial law on December 3. Han, by contrast, encouraged lawmakers to vote for impeaching Yoon. As the party’s approval ratings remained largely stable during the series of events leading to Yoon’s final impeachment last month, most of the PPP’s preliminary presidential candidates took a pro-Yoon stance to appeal to the members. Most of the candidates calculated that they could not win the primary election without support from Yoon loyalists. And the final results clearly showed that their strategy was right.
Kim received 51.81 percent of votes from the general public while Han received 48.19 percent. However, Kim’s massive advantage in support from PPP members – 61.25 percent vs Han’s 38.75 percent – proved decisive. The support for Kim, a Cabinet member of Yoon who has consistently defended the former president, clearly demonstrates that party members did not want Yoon to be removed from office, which also means that Yoon’s illegitimate declaration of martial law was acceptable for the PPP rank and file.
In his acceptance speech after winning the PPP nomination, Kim reiterated his view that Yoon’s declaration of martial law was inevitable due to the Democratic Party’s series of impeachment trials against Yoon’s Cabinet members. Kim blamed the DP for creating the political deadlock that supposedly forced Yoon to take drastic action (an argument that was roundly dismissed by the Constitutional Court in its unanimous verdict upholding Yoon’s impeachment.)
Kim also said that the upcoming presidential election, scheduled on June 3, should be the day that the PPP prevents DP candidate Lee Jae-myung from becoming president – just like Yoon and the party did in the previous presidential vote on March 9, 2022. “In order to block the force of Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung from seizing power, I will construct a strong coalition with any forces,” Kim vowed.
However, the approval ratings announced by the pollsters in recent weeks clearly showed Kim has little hope of becoming Yoon’s successor. Lee’s approval ratings have been hovering around 50 percent, far ahead of any of the PPP candidates. It’s also important to remember the cause of the snap presidential election – Yoon’s severe abrogation of the constitutional order, resulting in his impeachment. Under those circumstances, it is all but impossible for the PPP’s candidate to win the election. The party’s members may still support Yoon, but the general public feels differently.
Kim may have won the primary vote, but it’s unlikely he will actually stand as the PPP’s candidate. As the party scrambles to shore up its shaky electoral prospects, Kim will face pressure from PPP leadership to step aside in favor of Han Duck-soo, Yoon’s former prime minister and formerly the acting president. Han resigned from office on May 1 – the same day that the Supreme Court, in a shock ruling, overturned the acquittal of Lee in a legal case that could see him barred from running for office. Han announced his campaign for the election the next day.
Han is leading Kim by more than 5 percentage points in the polls, meaning the PPP sees him as a better bet to defeat Lee. The deadline for registering the candidacy is May 11, meaning Kim and Han have only six days to come to an agreement on a single conservative presidential candidate.
Kim had shown a willingness to work closely with Han, including agreeing on a unified candidate, as the PPP’s main aim is to prevent Lee Jay-myung from being elected. However, it is questionable whether Kim and Han can convince South Koreans who have questions over their eligibility and capability as president, considering Kim’s unchanged stance advocating Yoon’s martial law and the ongoing investigations over Han’s collusion with Yoon’s martial law plan.