Seoul: People Power Party (PPP) presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo and the party's interim leader, Kwon Young-se, clashed once again over the proposed merger of campaigns with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. This development marks the latest internal conflict within the conservative party as it gears up for the June 3 presidential election.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the disagreement emerged as the PPP prepared to release results from a two-day opinion poll assessing favorable ratings between Kim and Han. Kim criticized the party leadership's push for a merger, labeling it as an attempt to sideline him in favor of making Han the party's presidential nominee. "The forced merger pushed by the party leadership is nothing more than an attempt to remove me and make an independent candidate the party's presidential nominee," Kim stated during a meeting with PPP lawmakers. This was Kim's first attendance at such a meeting since securing the party's nomination earlier this month.
Kwon Young-se, the party's interim leader, expressed disappointment with Kim's comments, emphasizing that a "true leader, especially one aspiring to become a great leader, must be willing to sacrifice his personal interests." The party is currently experiencing tensions as Kim, a former labor minister, has urged the leadership to halt efforts to unify his candidacy with Han, highlighting a growing divide within the PPP with only 25 days remaining until the election.
Recent efforts to unify the candidacies have been unsuccessful. Kim and Han's second round of talks ended without an agreement. The impending presidential election, scheduled for June 3, aims to elect a successor to ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, following his failed martial law attempt. The PPP remains divided on its stance regarding Yoon's removal from office.
The results of the opinion polls, set to be announced soon, are based on a combination of 50 percent party member votes and 50 percent public opinion polling. Amid the ongoing tensions, Kim has canceled campaign stops in Daegu and Busan and is expected to concentrate on countering the PPP leadership and Han's merger proposal.
Since his selection as the presidential candidate, Kim has been in conflict with the party leadership, which has been advocating for campaign unification with Han. Han has called for the merger to be finalized by May 11 to prevent a split in conservative votes and better oppose Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung, who currently leads in opinion polls. Han has also stated he will not register for the presidential race without an agreement on unification.
Kim suggested a different approach, proposing that both he and Han campaign individually for a week, followed by a televised debate and public opinion polls to determine the candidacy next week. Late on Friday, representatives from Kim and Han's campaigns held brief negotiations on potential candidate unification, but talks collapsed due to disagreements over polling terms. This followed a court's dismissal of Kim's petition seeking recognition of his candidacy status and an injunction against the PPP's pressure to merge with Han.