Former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo poses for a photo during the People Power Party's convention to select its presidential candidate held in Goyang, just north of Seoul, on Saturday. Yonhap
Former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo poses for a photo during the People Power Party's convention to select its presidential candidate held in Goyang, just north of Seoul, on Saturday. Yonhap

Former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo clinched the ruling People Power Party’s presidential nomination for the June 3 presidential election on Saturday.

Kim clinched the nomination with 56.5 percent of a cumulative 402,481 votes nationwide against his opponent, former People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon. Han received 43.5 percent of the total votes.

The results were announced during the People Power Party convention held at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province in the afternoon. Votes from the party electorate and public opinion polls conducted on Thursday and Friday were taken into account.

Kim is now expected to compete against Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, who is seen as the front runner in the election as observed in various polls.

In his 13-minute nomination acceptance speech, Kim pledged to “form a strong alliance with any existing force” to prevent Lee from becoming president.

“I plan to form a strong alliance with any existing force to prevent Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea from taking power,” he told the crowd gathered at the convention.

“If people like these take power, then a terrible dictatorship will unfold – if we fail to stop the Democratic Party’s dictatorship, the free democracy will crumble and the future of South Korea will be dark,” he added.

Kim blamed the Democratic Party as the main cause of the current political turmoil, pointing out that they have so-far submitted “impeachment motions against 31 people” with the opposition-led National Assembly. “They have relentlessly impeached the prime minister, the deputy prime minister, minister, chief state auditor, head of the Korea Communications Commission, prosecutor general and investigators,” he said.

Kim vowed to focus on bolstering South Korea’s security and economy, if elected president.

“I will become a president that helps the youth achieve their dreams – become a president who creates jobs. And a president focused on security who will dissuade fears associated with North Korea’s nuclear weapons,” he said.

Kim also said that he would pursue a constitutional amendment that would change “the old system of 1987” and reform the political, legal and the election systems.

Saturday’s announcement comes a day after former Prime Minister and acting president Han Duck-soo declared his candidacy.

Han Duck-soo’s move fed growing speculations that the ex-prime minister and technocrat would enter the presidential race as an independent conservative candidate then partner up with Kim ahead of the election. Such move would be aimed to prevent a split in conservative votes.

Kim, 73, is known as a hardline conservative, who had voiced disagreement with the Assembly’s impeachment of former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived martial law imposition on Dec. 3. But he said he respects the Constitutional Court’s decision last month to remove Yoon from office.

He served as the governor of Gyeonggi Province from 2006 to 2014 and was a former three-term conservative lawmaker from 1996 to 2006.

Kim was named Labor Minister by Yoon in August last year, a role he would eventually resign from in April before announcing his presidential bid.

Prior to entering politics in 1990, he was a labor activist, who was tortured and imprisoned for participating in the pro-democracy protests in the late ‘80s.


mkjung@heraldcorp.com