South Korea's ex-Prime Minister Han says he will seek the presidency in June election

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Friday he will run in next month’s presidential election and would seek to lessen the powers of the office and ease strife-ridden domestic politics if he wins.

Han’s entry heats up the scramble among conservatives to unify behind a candidate to compete with liberal front-runner Lee Jae-myung, whose campaign recently was set back by a court decision to open a new trial on election law violation charges.

“I’ve determined to find what I can do for the future of the Republic of Korea that I love and for all of us. I’ll try my utmost to be chosen by the people at this presidential election," Han told a press conference at the National Assembly.

South Korea is holding an early presidential election on June 3 after conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol was ousted over his imposition of martial law. Han was appointed prime minister, the No. 2 post, by Yoon, and he served as acting leader after Yoon was suspended and later removed from office.

Han also was prime minister under liberal President Roh Moo-hyun from 2007 to 2008 and has served as trade minister, finance minister and ambassador to the U.S. during his 40-year career in public service. He has never held elected office but has risen politically as the main conservative People Power Party struggles in the wake of Yoon’s ouster.

Han does not belong to a political party, but contenders in the PPP have said they are willing to field a single candidate among them and Han. PPP members are scheduled to nominate their party's candidate Saturday.

Han said that if elected, he would launch a body to amend the constitution so the president and the assembly share powers based on the principle of checks and balances. His revisions would also bar the political circle and the judiciary branch from meddling in each other's sectors.

In South Korea, executive power is heavily concentrated on a president, and there have been calls for change.

The election June 3 will give the new president a full, single five-year term. But Han said he would serve three years to finish the constitutional revision and then leave.

Han said he would also use his expertise on economic affairs to resolve trade issues with the U.S. over President Donald Trump's tariff policies.

Lee's main liberal opposition Democratic Party stepped up its offensive against Han, saying he is abandoning his duties as the government's caretaker and lacks the moral standing to run for the presidency as a No. 2 official in the Yoon administration, responsible for many policy failures.

“We warn to former Prime Minister Han. Don't hide your greed with a lie that you are running for the people,” party spokesperson Noh Jongmyun said.

South Korean former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo bows after a press conference to announce a presidential bid at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks during a press conference to announce a presidential bid at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks during a press conference to announce a presidential bid at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo arrives to hold a press conference to announce a presidential bid at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

HAMIMA, Syria (AP) — A trickle of civilians left a contested area east of Aleppo on Thursday after a warning by the Syrian military to evacuate ahead of an anticipated government military offensive against Kurdish-led forces.

Government officials and some residents who managed to get out said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces prevented people from leaving via the corridor designated by the military along the main road leading west from the town of Maskana through Deir Hafer to the town of Hamima.

The SDF denied the reports that they were blocking the evacuation.

In Hamima, ambulances and government officials were gathered beginning early in the morning waiting to receive the evacuees and take them to shelters, but few arrived.

Farhat Khorto, a member of the executive office of Aleppo Governorate who was waiting there, claimed that there were "nearly two hundred civilian cars and hundreds of people who wanted to leave” the Deir Hafer area but that they were prevented by the SDF. He said the SDF was warning residents they could face “sniping operations or booby-trapped explosives” along that route.

Some families said they got out of the evacuation zone by taking back roads or going part of the distance on foot.

“We tried to leave this morning, but the SDF prevented us. So we left on foot … we walked about seven to eight kilometers until we hit the main road, and there the civil defense took us and things were good then,” said Saleh al-Othman, who said he fled Deir Hafer with more than 50 relatives.

Yasser al-Hasno, also from Deir Hafer, said he and his family left via back roads because the main routes were closed and finally crossed a small river on foot to get out of the evacuation area.

Another Deir Hafer resident who crossed the river on foot, Ahmad al-Ali, said, “We only made it here by bribing people. They still have not allowed a single person to go through the main crossing."

Farhad Shami, a spokesman for the SDF, said the allegations that the group had prevented civilians from leaving were “baseless.” He suggested that government shelling was deterring residents from moving.

The SDF later issued a statement also denying that it had blocked civilians from fleeing. It said that “any displacement of civilians under threat of force by Damascus constitutes a war crime" and called on the international community to condemn it.

“Today, the people of Deir Hafer have demonstrated their unwavering commitment to their land and homes, and no party can deprive them of their right to remain there under military pressure,” it said.

The Syrian army’s announcement late Wednesday — which said civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday — appeared to signal plans for an offensive against the SDF in the area east of Aleppo. Already there have been limited exchanges of fire between the two sides.

Thursday evening, the military said it would extend the humanitarian corridor for another day.

The Syrian military called on the SDF and other armed groups to withdraw to the other side of the Euphrates River, to the east of the contested zone. The SDF controls large swaths of northeastern Syria east of the river.

The tensions in the Deir Hafer area come after several days of intense clashes last week in Aleppo city that ended with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters and government forces taking control of three contested neighborhoods.

The fighting broke out as negotiations have stalled between Damascus and the SDF over an agreement reached last March to integrate their forces and for the central government to take control of institutions including border crossings and oil fields in the northeast.

Some of the factions that make up the new Syrian army, which was formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December 2024, were previously Turkey-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The SDF for years has been the main U.S. partner in Syria in fighting against the Islamic State group, but Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with Kurdish separatist insurgents in Turkey.

Despite the long-running U.S. support for the SDF, the Trump administration has also developed close ties with the government of interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and has so far avoided publicly taking sides in the clashes in Aleppo.

Ilham Ahmed, head of foreign relations for the SDF-affiliated Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria, at a press conference Thursday said SDF officials were in contact with the United States and Turkey and had presented several initiatives for de-escalation. She said that claims by Damascus that the SDF had failed to implement the March agreement were false.

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Associated Press journalist Hogir Al Abdo in Qamishli, Syria, contributed.

Members of the Syrian military police stand at a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Members of the Syrian Civil Defense, stand next to their vehicles at a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A displaced Syrian family rides in the back of a truck near a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army next to a river in the village of Rasm Al-Abboud, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Displaced Syrian children and women ride in the back of a truck near a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Displaced Syrians at a river crossing near the village of Jarirat al Imam, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)