SEOUL: South Korea’s former prime minister and acting president Han Duck-soo ended a short, ill-fated attempt to win the conservative party’s presidential nomination on Sunday after days of internecine disputes just days out from the election.

Rival Kim Moon-soo was chosen as nominee for the People Power Party after party members voted on Saturday to retain him over Han, whose late entry into the race derailed the consensus over its candidate for the June 3 presidential vote.

Han on Sunday said he “humbly accepts everything” and hopes Kim wins the snap election, which was triggered by the impeachment of the country’s former president.

Kim formally registered as a PPP candidate on Sunday morning, and is now South Korea’s conservative hopeful against frontrunner Lee Jae-myung of the opposition Democratic Party.

Han and Kim struggled for unity in the past week and had held a series of failed talks to discuss how to unite their conservative campaigns to avoid splitting the vote. Lee has been a clear frontrunner to replace conservative former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office in April for violating his duties when he declared a short-lived martial law in December.

Kim, who was selected as the conservatives’ candidate in a party convention a week ago, resisted pressure from the party to step aside in favour of the more popular Han, who had declined to participate in the nomination process while he was still serving as prime minister.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2025