Seoul, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's conservative party, which is facing difficulties, first canceled and then brought back the presidential candidacy of Kim Moon Soo within a few hours because of growing problems inside the party before the June 3 election.

On Saturday, there was a chaotic change after they tried and failed to replace Kim with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. This showed the leadership problems in the People Power Party. These problems started after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed because he imposed martial law in December. This action probably hurt the conservatives' chances of winning the next election.

Kim, a strong conservative and former labor minister under Yoon, was chosen as the PPP's presidential candidate on May 3. He won 56.3% of the primary vote, beating a reformist opponent who had criticized Yoon's martial law. But the PPP's leaders, who were mostly loyal to Yoon, had spent the last week strongly pushing Kim to step down and support Han. They thought Han had a better chance of winning against the main liberal candidate, Lee Jae-myung.

After Han and Kim could not agree to combine their campaigns, the PPP's emergency committee did something never done before early Saturday. They canceled their primary election, removed Kim as their candidate, and officially made Han a party member and their new candidate for president. But this change needed to be approved by all party members in a vote using an automated phone survey. In the end, the party members voted against the change on Saturday night.

Although unable to reveal the precise numbers, the proposal to change the candidate was narrowly defeated, stated party spokesman and legislator Shin Dong-wook. Kim, who had publicly condemned the party's effort to substitute him as an "immediate political manoeuvre," was promptly reinstated as the candidate and intends to formally register with electoral officials on Sunday, the party confirmed.

In a statement, Kim asserted, "Now, all will revert to its proper order."

Kim, who is 73, was an important labor activist in the 1970s and 1980s. But he joined a conservative party in the 1990s. He said he stopped wanting to be a "revolutionist" after seeing communist countries fall apart. Since then, he has been governor of South Korea’s Gyeonggi province for eight years and has finished three terms in the National Assembly.

Han became acting president after Yoon was removed from his position by the legislature in December and the Constitutional Court in April. He left his job on May 2 to try to become president, saying that his many years working for the public mean he is ready to lead the country. This is happening while the world is becoming less stable and trade is more difficult because of the actions of U.S. President Donald Trump.

After becoming the candidate, Han, who had asked for the party to be united, said in a statement that he “humbly accepts” what the party members said.

Recent polls show Han and Kim are far behind Lee. Lee, who led the Democrats' plan to remove Yoon, made fun of the PPP's try to change candidates. He told reporters on Thursday that he had heard of forced marriages but never forced unity.