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Kim Moon-soo faces challenge of bridging the impeachment divide

Published: 05 May. 2025, 00:00

People Power Party presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo speaks during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, at his Yeouido office in western Seoul on April 22. [KIM SEONG-RYONG]

Former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo was selected as the presidential candidate for the People Power Party (PPP) at the party’s national convention. Until recently, Kim was not considered a major contender. That changed following an incident during a National Assembly session last December, when Democratic Party lawmaker Seo Young-kyo called on Cabinet members to apologize for the state of emergency declared by then-President Yoon Suk Yeol. All ministers, including then-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, stood and bowed in acknowledgment. Kim, however, remained seated. That defiant gesture elevated his standing among hard-line conservative voters and helped secure his candidacy.

Yet the same image of unyielding conservatism may become a liability as Kim begins his campaign. The final round of the PPP primary was effectively a contest between two factions: Kim, who opposed Yoon’s impeachment, and former Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, who supported it. While Kim won the party membership vote decisively — securing 61.25 percent to Han’s 38.75 — he barely edged Han in public polling, 51.81 to 48.19 percent. These polls excluded Democratic Party (DP) supporters but included many centrist and unaffiliated voters, where support for Yoon’s impeachment remains strong.

To close the gap with leading DP candidate Lee Jae-myung, Kim must appeal to these centrist and moderate voters. But during the primary, he maintained his opposition to the impeachment and distanced himself from calls to expel Yoon from the party. How he intends to win over impeachment supporters while holding firm to this position remains unclear. His strategy for building a broad anti-Lee coalition appears uncertain at best.

Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo announces his bid for presidency at the National Assembly building in Yeouido, western Seoul, on May 2 [NEWS1]

A potential unification with independent candidate Han Duck-soo presents a further complication. The PPP, with 108 National Assembly seats, has already nominated its candidate. What grounds would justify another primary contest with a nonparty candidate? How would the timeline and rules be set? If Han becomes the unified candidate, would he run under the PPP banner or form a new party? Without clear answers and political finesse from both sides, talk of unification may amount to little more than a distraction.

More fundamentally, any alliance between Kim and Han must go beyond electoral calculations. It should begin with serious reflection on the failures of the Yoon administration, in which both played prominent roles, and offer a vision for a renewed conservative movement. Simply opposing Lee Jae-myung is not enough. The public expects accountability for the impeachment crisis and assurance that such failures will not be repeated. Without that, crossing the impeachment divide will remain out of reach.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.