Han Duck-soo joins People Power Party, Kim's candidacy revoked
Former Prime Minister and acting President Han Duck-soo joined the People Power Party around 3 a.m. on Saturday, following the party leadership's decision to revoke ex-Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo's status as presidential candidate.
Han announced in a press briefing that he has joined the People Power Party as of Saturday and highlighted his goal of helping South Korea 'move forward.'
'I only have one goal – it's to prevent the miracle that's happening from ending and to help South Korea continuously move forward. I believe that is the will of pthe people and the will of my fellow party members,' he added.
Ahead of Han's announcement, the party's leadership decided to 'cancel the nomination' Kim following a meeting of the election management committee and emergency committee.
The party then opened a new candidate registration process from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. Kim reportedly reapplied for the process. The party's new presidential candidate will be announced during a national committee meeting scheduled for Sunday.
Kim warned to take legal actions against the party's moves as the meeting of the election management committee and emergency committee convened.
The ruling party's unprecedented move came amid a growing rift within the conservative bloc over the candidacy merger scenario between Kim and Han.
The party leadership had pressured Kim to swiftly unify his candidacy with Han by Sunday, which is the deadline for candidate registration with the National Election Commission. Kim, who officially won the People Power Party's primary race last week refused to heed to the party's request, denouncing it as an 'illegal' plan to replace him with Han as candidate.
Han, who was more popular in various opinion polls, compared to Kim, had insisted the merger to be finalized by Sunday. He pointed to the need to better counter Democratic Party of Korea candidate Lee Jae-myung, who has led several opinion polls, without dividing the conservative votes.
The party's decision to cancel Kim's nomination came hours after Kim and Han held their third meeting over the issue of candidacy merger. The meeting collapsed in less than 30 minutes after it kicked off at 8:30 p.m. at the National Assembly. The previous two meetings also ended without agreements.
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