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PPP's Kim Moon-soo registers presidential candidacy with election commission

Published: 11 May. 2025, 11:03 Updated: 11 May. 2025, 13:16

YOON SO-YEON
[email protected]

The People Power Party's presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo registers his candidacy at the National Election Commission in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on May 11. [JOONGANG ILBO]

The People Power Party's (PPP) presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo registered himself as the party's presidential candidate with the election watchdog on Sunday, pledging to make Korea a “great country” as the next president.

“This upcoming presidential election is important as it will choose a president who must overcome the crisis Korea is facing and who can make efforts to ensure the people's happiness,” Kim told reporters after registering with the National Election Commission (NEC) in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi.

He swore to make every possible effort to “make Korea a great country.”

On Saturday, the PPP's all-member meeting voted down a motion led by the party's leadership to replace him with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo as the party's presidential candidate, ending a weeklong internal dispute between him and the leadership.

Kim, a former labor minister, had secured the party's nomination through the primaries but had since come under intense pressure from the party leadership to merge campaigns with Han, who had polled better in hypothetical matchups with front-runner Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party.

Kim welcomed the party's decision in his favor, describing it as “highly unusual” and “a surprising miracle,” and thanked party members for “upholding democracy.”

In the run-up to the June 3 presidential election, he said he will focus on pitching a “big tent” to expand the coalition not only within the party but also outside it, pledging to achieve national unity and listen to people's voices.

BY YOON SO-YEON, YONHAP [[email protected]]