hankyoreh

Kim Moon-soo, the conservative People Power Party’s nominee for president, speaks at a ceremony appointing regional campaign staff in the Daegu and North Gyeongsang areas at the party’s Daegu office on May 13, 2025. (pool photo)

Kim Moon-soo, the People Power Party’s candidate in the June 3 presidential election, claimed Tuesday that it “isn’t right” to demand that ousted former President Yoon Suk-yeol leave the party and said he has “never thought” of expelling Yoon from the party, drawing the line on some internal demands to cut ties with Yoon.

The Democratic Party slammed Kim’s comments as “a declaration of intent to run on protecting the ringleader of an insurrection.”

Following a ceremony to launch his campaign office for Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, Kim told reporters, “The decision to leave the party is the president’s to make.”

“You can’t evade responsibility by ousting the president you [the party] selected or expelling him from the party. It’s also not right,” Kim added. 

This was a direct contradiction of remarks made during a radio appearance earlier that day by Kim Yong-tae, a top official in Kim Moon-soo’s campaign who has been tapped to serve as the party’s next interim leader. The lawmaker asked listeners for patience, saying he would work to ensure that Kim Moon-soo would “be able to speak on that point” once he was officially overseeing the party, indicating that he intended on stripping Yoon of his party credentials. 

Kim has consistently defended Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law declaration and was a steady opponent of Yoon’s impeachment. When Kim registered his candidacy at the National Election Commission on Sunday, Yoon publicly announced his support for Kim, saying, “Now is the time for us to band together.” Critics from within the party and beyond are expressing concern about June’s presidential election becoming framed as a referendum on the insurrection. 

The previous day, Kim said that he was “sorry to the people who are suffering because of martial law,” only adding to criticism for a what was seen as a wishy-washy apology for hardships Koreans were experiencing rather than a heartfelt apology for the former president’s illegal declaration of martial law. 

Following Kim Moon-soo’s drew the line on expelling Yoon from the party, former PPP leader Han Dong-hoon, who has repeatedly called for the party to break ties with Yoon and the former first lady, took to Facebook to post, “There is a clear path to victory, so it’s frustrating to see us go the opposite way.” 

Speaking to the Hankyoreh, a prominent PPP lawmaker representing a district in Korea’s deeply red southeastern region said, “It’s a snap presidential election that is the result of the Dec. 3 martial law incident. To talk about one’s ‘duty’ to Yoon at such a time and say he shouldn’t be expelled from the party does not live up to what the public expects at this time.”  

Jo Seoung-lae, a senior spokesperson for the Democratic Party’s election committee, said, “If you seek to rally your followers while ignoring the will of the people, that’s a miscalculation.” 

“The people will judge Kim’s skewed sense of loyalty [to Yoon] at the ballot box,” Jo said.  

Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok said, “To those who are talking about their ‘duty’ to Yoon, have they ever thought about their ‘duty’ to the people?”

“This goes beyond mere deception; it’s an assault on the people,” Lee said. 

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter; Jeon Gwang-joon, staff reporter

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