Once jailed activist, now conservative candidate — Kim Moon-soo eyes South Korea’s presidency

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Kim Moon-soo (L), the presidential candidate for South Korea's conservative People Power Party, casts his ballot with his daughter (R) at a polling station during early voting for the presidential election in Incheon on May 29, 2025. — AFP pic

SEOUL, March 30 — When his conservative party bowed to show remorse for ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol’s disastrous martial law decree, Kim Moon-soo sat alone and resolute in symbolic non-apology.

The moment catapulted the labour activist turned lawmaker to fame, which he now hopes to harness to become South Korea’s next president.

“He’s essentially a presidential candidate that social media gave birth to,” Jeongmin Kim, executive director at the Korea Risk Group, told AFP.

Internet users dubbed him “stubborn Moon-soo” in approval of the move, which helped drive a small uptick in his beleaguered party’s approval ratings.

Yet the People Power Party (PPP) -- Yoon’s former party—itself was not always so keen on Kim Moon-soo’s candidacy.

In a high-profile bout of infighting, the PPP selected, then unselected, then again selected the ex-labour minister as its nominee.

The vacillation was the latest turbulence to rock the party after Yoon’s botched bid to suspend civilian rule in December. The impeached president became the second PPP leader to be stripped of office, after Park Geun-hye in 2017.

On the campaign trail, Kim, 73, has sought to distance himself from the ousted president, who quit the PPP in mid-May.

Around the same time, Kim offered his first apology “to the people suffering from the consequences of martial law”.

“Martial law has not only made the economy and domestic politics difficult but has also caused significant challenges in exports and diplomatic relations,” he told local media.

Korea Risk Group’s Kim called the candidate a “chameleon-like politician capable of political survival”.

Shift to the right

Born into a large family in North Gyeongsang province, about 300 kilometres (186 miles) from Seoul, Kim grew up in poverty after his father’s co-signing of a loan plunged the family into debt.

Kim was politically active by his final year of high school, when he was suspended for protesting military leader President Park Chung-hee’s attempt to extend his rule.

Kim attended South Korea’s most prestigious university, but started working in factories while studying for his degree—and organising labour unions.

He was arrested twice in the 1980s, first on charges of violating the Anti-Communism Law, and later under the National Security Act.

Kim spent more than two and a half years in prison, and wrote in his biography about enduring electrocution and water torture.

He was pardoned in 1988 and was stunned to find the country thriving when he emerged from jail.

“My prediction that South Korean capitalism would eventually fail proved wrong,” wrote Kim in his biography, with the collapse of the Soviet Union also upending his world view and leading him to join the conservative party.

In 1996, Kim was elected to parliament. He later served two terms as governor of Gyeonggi province, South Korea’s most populous region.

After being accused but not charged in an abuse of power scandal in 2011, Kim found his footing again among hard-right conservatives.

His popularity with his party’s hard line was bolstered by his attempt to revise history textbooks in ways seen as favourable to former colonial power Japan, plus a high-profile fine for attending a church service during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He was appointed labour minister by Yoon in 2024 and was widely seen as part of the disgraced leader’s inner circle.

‘Written a miracle’

Polls show Kim trailing by at least 10 percentage points behind the opposition leader Lee Jae-myung.

Kim has also been unsuccessful in convincing third-place candidate Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party to merge forces, which would make the election competitive.

With polls now banned until election day on June 3 “the question is to what extent can candidate Kim Moon-soo narrow the gap”, said Heo Jin-jae, research director at Gallup Korea.

“For the next remaining days, any remarks that offend public sentiment could cost the candidates votes,” said Heo.

Another key question is whether he can win over moderates.

“The conservative base in South Korea is ideologically broad, and Kim Moon-soo’s political character is quite distinct,” Kang Joo-hyun, a professor at Sookmyung Women’s University, told AFP.

“Among moderates or pragmatists on the right, there’s hesitation about whether they can fully back him,” said Kang, adding there were “limits to how far his appeal stretches across the spectrum”.

In response to the sceptics, Kim recently recalled his last-minute victory in 1996, when he ran for parliament.

“You didn’t think I would become the (final) candidate, did you? Neither did I,” Kim told reporters during his first day of campaigning.

“But we have written a miracle.” — AFP