South Korea's conservative party, which is having problems, first canceled and then brought back Kim Moon Soo's chance to be president in just a few hours. This happened because of disagreements inside the party, making things more difficult before the election on June 3.

On Saturday, there was a sudden and confusing change, after they failed to replace Kim with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. This showed the People Power Party has problems with its leaders. This happened after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed because he started martial law in December. This action might have hurt the chances of the conservative party 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 past week trying hard to convince Kim to step down and support Han. They thought Han had a better chance against the liberal Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung.

After Han and Kim's talks to join their campaigns failed, the PPP's emergency committee did something never done before early Saturday. They cancelled their primary election, removed Kim as their candidate, and made Han a party member and their new presidential candidate. But, this change needed approval from all party members in a vote using an automated phone survey. This vote rejected the change on Saturday night.

Although unable to reveal the exact numbers, the party's spokesman and lawmaker, Shin Dong-wook, stated that the proposal to substitute the candidate was defeated by a slim margin. Kim, who had previously condemned the party's endeavour to remove him as an "abrupt political manoeuvre," was promptly reinstated as the candidate and intends to formally register with electoral officials on Sunday, according to the party.

"Now, everything will revert to its appropriate position," Kim affirmed in a statement.

Kim, who is 73, was a well-known labor activist in the 1970s and 1980s. However, 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 the governor of South Korea's Gyeonggi province for eight years and has served three times in the National Assembly.

Han became acting president after Yoon was removed from his position by the legislature in December and then officially by the Constitutional Court in April. He left his job on May 2 to try to become president, saying that his long career working for the public makes him suitable to lead the country during increasing global uncertainty and trade problems made worse by the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Following his endorsement as the candidate, Han, who had appealed for unity, declared in a statement that he "respectfully acknowledges" the will of the party members.

In recent opinion polls, Han and Kim have been far behind Lee. Lee was the leader of the Democrats' campaign to remove Yoon. He made fun of the PPP's attempts to change candidates, telling reporters on Thursday, "I have heard of forced marriages but never of forced unity."