South Korea's former Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo celebrates after winning the nomination as the presidential election candidate during the People Power Party's convention in Goyang, South Korea, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)2025-05-03T06:51:58Z SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Former Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo won the presidential nomination of South Koreas main conservative party, facing an uphill battle against liberal front-runner Lee Jae-myung for the June 3 election.Observers say Kim will likely try to align with other conservative forces, such as former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, to prevent a split in conservative votes in a bid to boost prospects for a conservative win against Lee.In a party primary that ended Saturday, Kim won 56.5% of the votes cast, beating his sole competitor, Han Dong-hun, the party said in a televised announcement. Other contenders have been eliminated in earlier rounds.Ill form a strong alliance with anyone to prevent a rule by Lee Jae-myung and his Democratic Party forces. Ill push for that in a procedure and method that our people and members accept, and Ill ultimately win, Kim said in his victory speech. Kim, 73, served as a governor of South Koreas most populous Gyeonggi province and a member of the National Assembly for three terms. Kim was originally a pro-democracy and labor activist but joined a conservative party in the 1990s. The June 3 election is meant to find a successor to conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, a PPP member who was impeached and removed from office in early April over his ill-fated Dec. 3 imposition of martial law. Stay up to date with similar stories by signing up to our WhatsApp channel. Kim has opposed parliaments impeachment of Yoon, though he said he respects a Constitutional Court ruling that formally dismissed Yoon as president in early April. Yoons impeachment is a major source of feuding at the People Power Party and a hot topic at the partys primary.Han, Kims main contender in Saturdays party election, served as Yoons first justice minister. He leads a reformist yet minority faction at the PPP who joined the liberal opposition in voting to overturn Yoons martial law decree and later impeach him. Without the support of Hans faction members, an opposition-led impeachment motion on Yoon couldnt have passed through the National Assembly because opposition parties were eight votes short of a two-thirds majority to approve it. Lee is the clear favorite to win the election, but he stands a total of five criminal trials over corruption and other charges. If Lee becomes president, those trials will likely stop as he will enjoy presidential immunity from most criminal prosecutions.Lees campaign suffered a setback due to a recent Supreme Court decision to order a new trial on his election law charges. Its unclear if he will face a court sentence that requires the suspension of his campaign before the June 3 vote, but hell likely grapple with an intense political offensive by his election rivals. HYUNG-JIN KIM Hyung-jin is an Associated Press reporter in Seoul, South Korea. He reports on security, political and other general news on the Korean Peninsula. twitter mailto