South Korea's main conservative party first canceled and then brought back Kim Moon Soo as their candidate for president within a few hours. This happened because of disagreements inside the party before the election on June 3rd.

On Saturday, there was a confusing change of plan. This happened after they 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. He was removed because he decided to use martial law in December. This decision might have stopped the conservatives from winning another election.

Kim, a strong conservative and former minister under Yoon, became the party's candidate for president on May 3. He won 56.3% of the vote, beating an opponent who disagreed with Yoon's military rule. However, the party leaders, who supported Yoon, had been trying hard to make Kim leave and support Han. They thought Han had a better chance against the main opponent from the Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung.

After Han and Kim could not agree to join forces, the PPP party did something that had never happened before. On Saturday morning, they cancelled their first selection process, meaning Kim was no longer the candidate. Instead, Han became a member of the party and their new choice for president. But, this change needed the agreement of all party members. They voted by phone, but on Saturday night, they said no to replacing Kim with Han.

Party spokesman Shin Dong-wook said they couldn't share the exact numbers, but the vote to change the candidate failed by a small number of votes. Kim, who called the party's attempt to replace him a "sudden political move," was quickly made the candidate again. The party said he plans to officially register with election officials on Sunday.

“Now everything will go back where it belongs,” Kim said in a statement.

Kim, who is 73, was a famous leader for workers' rights in the 1970s and 1980s. But in the 1990s, he joined a conservative party. He said he stopped wanting to be a "revolutionist" after seeing communist countries fall. Later, he was governor of Gyeonggi province in South Korea for eight years and was elected to the National Assembly three times.

Han became acting president after Yoon was removed by the parliament in December and then by the Constitutional Court in April. Han left his job on May 2 to try to become president. He said his long career in public service meant he was ready to lead the country during uncertain international times and trade problems made worse by the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Han, who asked for unity after becoming the candidate, said he accepts what the party members said.

In recent polls, Han and Kim are far behind Lee. Lee, who led the Democrats' efforts to remove Yoon, made fun of the PPP's attempts to change candidates. He told reporters on Thursday, "I have heard of forced marriages but never heard of forced unity."