Kim fights to unite the right as conservatives defect to Lee
Presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung is widening his political tent, drawing in a wave of conservative defectors as his rival candidate, Kim Moon-soo, scrambles to unify a fractured party and revive a faltering bid to forge an anti-Lee alliance beyond party lines.
With just two weeks to go until South Korea's early presidential election on June 3, the two leading contenders, Lee representing the liberal Democratic Party of Korea and Kim the conservative People Power Party, are charting sharply divergent campaign strategies.
This week, momentum appeared to shift in Lee's favor, as the Democratic Party grew visibly energized by a string of public endorsements from conservative figures, particularly from the minor New Reform Party.
Her Eun-a, former leader of the New Reform Party and a former spokesperson for the People Power Party, publicly endorsed Lee on Monday by joining his outdoor campaign rally in Seoul.
The former leader said her decision was driven by disenchantment after joining the People Power Party and later leaving to co-found a third party with Lee Jun-seok, the New Reform Party's presidential candidate, "aspiring to a reformed conservatism."
Moon Byeong-ho, another former lawmaker from the New Reform Party, told local media he plans to declare his support for Lee later this week. Former lawmaker Kim Yong-nam from the same party endorsed Lee by attending his campaign rally in Gwangju on May 17.
Rep. Kim Sang-wook, who defected from the People Power Party in early May, also formally joined the Democratic Party on Monday, marking a symbolic shift in the presidential race.
Rep. Yun Ho-jung, general manager of the Democratic Party's election committee, said Tuesday that the "Democratic Party's big-tent coalition is steadily expanding' during a meeting of senior campaign officials held at the party's headquarters in Yeouido.
Speaking at the meeting, Rep. Kang Hoon-sik, director of the campaign situation room, also underscored "Candidate Lee Jae-myung's big-tent campaign for national unity — the so-called 'Myeong Tent' — is taking shape."
'It is also an appeal to stop distinguishing between conservatives and progressives to achieve unity and overcome the crisis in a divided Republic of Korea," Kang said referring to South Korea by its official name.
Another prominent figure supporting Lee Jae-myung is Lee Seok-hyun, former deputy speaker of the National Assembly, who had aligned with former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon in opposition to Lee Jae-myung and co-founded the New Future Democratic Party in February 2024.
Lee Seok-hyun announced his departure from the party on May 17, saying 'This is a time when democratic forces must unite firmly around candidate Lee Jae-myung."
Conservative groups have also crossed party lines to endorse Lee Jae-myung.
Seven organizations of former President Park Geun-hye's supporters declared their backing for Lee and subsequently joined the Democratic Party on Monday. A group of supporters of former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo also announced in mid-May that they would publicly endorse Lee.
Across the aisle, the People Power Party is accelerating efforts to unify around Kim Moon-soo within its own ranks.
Former party leader Han Dong-hoon officially launched his on-the-ground support for Kim's campaign, kicking off a nationwide tour in Busan on Tuesday, following former disgraced President Yoon Suk Yeol's departure from the party on Saturday.
Han, who lost to Kim in the final one-on-one primary match and had drawn a line on key issues — including redefining the party's ties with Yoon and explicitly opposing martial law declaration by Yoon — had previously refrained from voicing his endorsement for Kim.
The People Power Party's special delegation also flew to Hawaii, where they met with Hong Joon-pyo on Sunday and delivered a letter from Kim seeking support for Kim's campaign.
Rep. Kim Dae-shik said he would meet with Hong again on Monday to 'have concrete discussions' on matters including joining Kim Moon-soo's campaign, during an interview with local broadcaster Channel A's radio program aired Tuesday.
However, the People Power Party has made little progress in building an anti–Lee Jae-myung coalition outside the party encompassing the New Reform Party and New Future Democratic Party.
Candidate Lee Jun-seok of the New Reform Party, currently polling in third place, on Tuesday once again dismissed the possibility of unifying candidacies with Kim during a radio interview with local broadcaster SBS.
When asked whether he would still refuse to merge even if it would result in Lee becoming the sole candidate and lead to possible victory, Lee said 'I have absolutely no intention of doing it, as the procedure and process itself would appear extremely outdated and outmoded."
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[Wang Son-taek] Keys to success for the Lee administration
President Lee Jae-myung, who took office on June 4, has been busy. He is working to resolve the six-month national crisis that left the country without a president because of the martial law declaration by former President Yoon Suk Yeol. It is also urgent for Lee to appoint high-ranking officials to help him run the government over the next five years. Though he is very busy right now, he might hope to see his administration succeed -- in other words, to reestablish governance. Since the democratization of the Republic of Korea in 1987, there have only been two successful cases where the government has been wholly rebuilt -- specifically, the elections in 1992 and 2002. However, it is necessary to put aside the 1992 election of President Kim Young-sam, given that it resulted from a political trick -- the merger of three major parties. On the other hand, the election of President Roh Moo-hyun in 2002 can be evaluated entirely as the result of public judgment. His election as president was mainly due to the public's relatively positive evaluation of his predecessor, President Kim Dae Jung. The other presidents were all subject to public criticism but failed to lay the groundwork for a successful transfer of power to the opposition. The newly launched Lee Jae-myung administration should closely examine the background of the Kim Dae-jung administration's success and the causes of other governments' failures. Three variables might be derived by analyzing the successes and failures. The first is the zeitgeist, or the spirit of the times; the second is communication and the third is unity. President Kim Dae-jung always tried to grasp the zeitgeist, and once it had been understood, he demonstrated his utmost efforts to bring it to fruition. Until the 1990s, he focused on the struggle for democratization and political development. In the 2000s, he raised national topics such as national unity, informatization and technology, inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation. What might be the zeitgeist President Lee is facing? The first priority is overcoming insurrection. Efforts should be made to heal the psychological wounds of the people, shocked by the insurrection, by establishing institutional arrangements to prevent it from occurring again. The second most important task is to proceed with national reconstruction, which Korea must elevate to the next level by reforming and improving policies the state completely reversed during the three years of the Yoon Suk Yeol government. To this end, we propose a new Korean-style national development model and a national reconstruction campaign. To upgrade our democracy, it is necessary to introduce additional systems that guarantee popular sovereignty and to march with the people toward a future in which national integration can take place naturally. In terms of the economy, we need a national campaign to become a creativity-oriented society in which diversity, inclusiveness and tolerance are respected and where people can try again after failure. It is true that governments other than the Kim Dae-jung administration acknowledged the spirit of the times. The problem is that their actions went in different or opposite directions. The second task in succeeding as a government is effective communication. President Kim Dae-jung's communication method was surprisingly simple. First, to understand what policies the people wanted, he referred to opinions expressed in newspapers and broadcasts as much as possible. The next step was to candidly explain to the public the background of his policies and seek support. Even if a policy did not get 100 percent support, a candid explanation helped lessen the degree of rejection by the people. While pursuing his policies as the next step, Kim admitted to errors when things went wrong and sought understanding by explaining what happened. Listening to public opinion, explaining policies in advance and elucidating policy failures were key elements of Kim Dae-jung's successful communication. Although these elements seem simple, they are not easy to implement. If officials in charge of state affairs neglect the people and focus only on the struggle for power, they will not achieve public acceptance because frank communication would mean political defeat. Ironically, this is a key factor that led to the success of the Kim Dae-jung administration and the failure of other governments. The last of the three successful elements of the Kim Dae-jung government is that it made every effort to unify the people. National unity is also easy to talk about but challenging to achieve. This is because "the people" are ultimately the voters who support a leader in today's situation of severe political polarization. In a sense, voters who do not support the winner of an election might not count as citizens. Kim never discriminated against the people who did not support him, which was one of the great secrets to his success. For President Lee Jae-myung, achieving national unity will be more difficult than it was for President Kim because political polarization has become so extreme. Nevertheless, if President Lee repeatedly reaches out to and embraces the conservatives who oppose, fear and despise him, antipathy toward him will undoubtedly lessen. Then, the energy he would have spent attacking the opposition can be put into developing the policies that the majority of people want. In that scenario, there would be no reason for him not to succeed. The Lee Jae-myung administration has a much greater chance of success than its predecessors. This is because most of the negative images of President Lee are simply illusions. Within the next three months or so, it is certain that the baseless slanders against him will disappear. However, improving Lee Jae-myung's image does not guarantee success. The administration must work hard to grasp the zeitgeist, communicate strategically and achieve national unity as the great Kim Dae-jung did. These may well be sufficient conditions for success.
