Focus turns to whether Yoon Suk Yeol's exit can boost Kim Moon-soo's standing at the polls
As South Korea’s presidential election approaches on June 3, former President Yoon Suk Yeol formally left the conservative People Power Party on Saturday and urged voters to rally behind the party’s embattled presidential candidate, Kim Moon-soo.
Yoon’s departure came not from a moment of clarity or political integrity but from growing unrest within the People Power Party, which has struggled to reconcile its democratic image with a former leader tainted by constitutional disgrace.
On April 4, Yoon was removed from office by the Constitutional Court for his role in the Dec. 3 martial law declaration fiasco. His departure from the People Power Party, if it was ever appropriate, should have followed that verdict immediately. Instead, it came only after internal calls for his expulsion grew impossible to ignore. Even then, it was not the party but Yoon himself who announced his resignation — a decision that appears more like a tactical retreat than a moral reckoning.
Within the People Power Party, reactions to Yoon’s move were mixed. Some party officials expressed hope that Yoon’s departure might refocus the race and consolidate conservative support behind Kim. But others were more candid, with one senior lawmaker bluntly saying the move came “too late.” The damage, it seems, has already been done.
Lee Jae-myung, the candidate of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, dismissed Yoon’s departure as “a political maneuver,” arguing that it should have been the party, not Yoon, who severed ties. “This isn’t an act of contrition — it’s a stage-managed exit,” Lee said during a campaign stop in Gwangju on Saturday. He suggested that Yoon’s decision was less about principle than survival, offering the illusion of distance while still influencing the election through his endorsement of Kim Moon-soo.
Lee Jun-seok, the minor conservative New Reform Party candidate, was more scathing. “You don’t erase the original sin of martial law by quitting a party,” he wrote on social media. “It’s grotesque to hear Yoon speak of liberty, law and happiness after what he’s done.” Such criticism underscores the lingering toxicity of Yoon’s presence — even now he is ostensibly on the sidelines.
The public remains no less divided. Protests erupted in Seoul on the day of Yoon’s announcement. Some demonstrators branded him a traitor and called for his imprisonment; others defended him as a misunderstood patriot. That dichotomy — between condemnation and loyalty — captures the unresolved national unease surrounding his tenure.
Polls reflect the volatile election landscape. Gallup Korea’s May 17 survey shows Lee Jae-myung holding a commanding lead with 51 percent support, followed by Kim Moon-soo at 29 percent and Lee Jun-seok at 8 percent. But with just weeks remaining, volatility remains the only constant. Yoon’s departure from the party has not erased his political footprint. It has merely reconfigured it.
For Kim Moon-soo, the path ahead is precarious. He must maintain support from Yoon’s loyalists without alienating moderate voters disillusioned by recent scandals. An embrace of Yoon risks further backlash; a repudiation risks fracturing the conservative base. Meanwhile, Lee Jun-seok’s continued attacks threaten to siphon away independents and younger voters fatigued by both major parties. If the People Power Party sees Yoon’s resignation as a reset, it may be sorely mistaken. What it has gained in short-term optics, it has perhaps lost in long-term trust.
There was a moment when Yoon could have chosen accountability — on the day the court ruled against him. That decision would have offered either the dignity of contrition or the shrewdness of strategic retreat. Instead, his delayed resignation, marked by opacity and defiance, has only deepened public skepticism.
This is not a clean break but a choreographed sidestep. It preserves the illusion of separation without confronting the moral and institutional damage left behind. And in politics, timing and sincerity are everything. By failing both tests, Yoon has not only further tarnished his own legacy but may have imperiled the credibility of the conservative cause he once claimed to represent.
koreadherald@heradcorp.com
