South Korea’s presidential race is growing increasingly chaotic, fuelled by infighting within the conservative camp and persistent legal troubles facing the progressive front-runner.
The conservative People Power Party (PPP) last week nominated former labour minister Kim Moon-soo as its candidate for the June 3 snap presidential election.
The vote was triggered by the impeachment of former president Yoon Suk-yeol, who had won the 2022 election on the PPP ticket.
Kim, who was governor of Gyeonggi province from 2010 to 2014, had long been outside PPP’s political corridors of power and on the fringe of its ideological spectrum. But he gained traction among conservative voters after emerging as the only cabinet member to openly defend Yoon’s failed attempt to impose martial law on December 3.
His victory over runner-up Han Dong-hoon – a former PPP leader and justice minister who fell out with Yoon amid scandals involving former first lady Kim Keon-hee – was facilitated by his promise to allow a possible run-off to select between himself and former acting president Han Duck-soo.
The idea was to field a unified conservative candidate to challenge liberal front-runner Lee Jae-myung.
