South Korea s conservatives drop presidential candidate to select a new pick

SEOUL - South Korea’s conservatives made another about-face on May 11 and reinstated their nominee, just hours after dropping him and reopening the nomination process as the divided party struggled for unity to challenge the liberal frontrunner in a presidential election four weeks away.

People Power Party nominee Kim Moon-soo welcomed the decision, which was made after polling party members over whether to replace him with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, whose late entry into the race derailed the consensus over its candidate for the snap June 3 presidential vote.

“Now everything will fall into place,” he said in a statement, promising to seek unity and build a “big tent” coalition to take on liberal Democratic Party’s candidate Lee Jae-myung when campaigning officially begins on May 12.

Liberal Democratic Party candidate Lee has been a clear front runner to replace conservative former president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office in April for violating his duties by declaring a short-lived martial law in December.

Mr Kim, who was selected as the candidate at a party convention a week ago, has resisted pressure from the party to step aside in favour of the more popular Mr Han, who had declined to participate in the nomination process while he was still serving as prime minister.

Mr Kim spent the recent days openly clashing with PPP leadership and filing legal challenges against the party, including in the hours before he was reinstated.

He said he was the sole legitimate candidate chosen under a democratic process.

He filed an injunction to stop the party from reopening the nomination process, but it was denied by a court on May 9, clearing the way for the conservatives to hold a new vote this weekend.

Mr Kim told a press conference earlier on May 10