South Korea’s main conservative party nominates Kim Moon Soo as its presidential candidate

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Former Labor Minister and staunch conservative Kim Moon Soo won the presidential nomination of South Korea’s 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 and 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.

“I’ll form a strong alliance with anyone to prevent a rule by Lee Jae-myung and his Democratic Party forces. I’ll push for that in a procedure and method that our people and party members accept, and I’ll ultimately win,” Kim said in his victory speech.

The June 3 election is meant to find a successor to conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, a People Power Party member who was impeached by the opposition-controlled National Assembly in mid-December and dismissed by the Constitutional Court in early April over his ill-fated imposition of martial law.

Yoon’s impeachment is a major source of feuding at the PPP and a hot topic at the party’s primary.

Kim, who served as labor minister under Yoon, has opposed parliament’s impeachment of Yoon, though he said he disagreed with Yoon's decision to declare martial law on Dec. 3. Kim gained popularity among hardline PPP supporters after he solely defied a demand on Dec. 11. by an opposition lawmaker that all Cabinet members stand up and bow in a gesture of apology for Yoon's martial law enactment at the National Assembly.

Han Dong-hun, Kim's main contender in the PPP's primary, served as Yoon’s first justice minister. Han leads a reformist yet minority faction at the PPP who joined the liberal opposition in voting to overturn Yoon’s martial law decree and later impeach him. Without the support of Han’s faction members, an opposition-led impeachment motion on Yoon couldn’t have passed through the National Assembly because opposition parties were eight votes short of a two-thirds majority to approve it.

Shin Yul, a politics professor at Seoul's Myonggi University, said that public awareness of the conservatives’ campaign could have risen more sharply if Han had won, as he could have appealed to moderate, swing voters more.

Kim, 73, was originally a prominent labor activist in the 1970-80s but joined a conservative party in the 1990s. Kim recently said he gave up his dream to become “a revolutionist” after observing the collapse of communist states. He has since served as a governor of South Korea’s most populous Gyeonggi province for eight years and a member of the National Assembly for three terms.

Kim has said that if elected, he would push to fight corruption, overhaul financial regulations, reform pension systems and increase government spending on Artificial Intelligence infrastructure. He said he would maintain a solid military alliance with the U.S. and introduce nuclear-powered submarines as a way to increase deterrence against North Korean nuclear threats.

Lee, who won the Democratic Party nomination last Sunday, is the clear favorite to win the election. But Lee’s campaign suffered a setback due to a recent Supreme Court decision to order a new trial on his election law charges. It’s unclear if he will face a court sentence that requires the suspension of his campaign before the June 3 vote, but he’ll likely grapple with an intense political offensive by his election rivals.

South Korea's former Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo, center, 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)

South Korea's former Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo speaks 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)

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)

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)

South Korea's former Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo waves as he arrives to attend the People Power Party's convention in Goyang, South Korea, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korea's former Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo is greeted by supporters as he arrives to attend the People Power Party's convention in Goyang, South Korea, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korea's former Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo raises his hands as he arrives to attend the People Power Party's convention in Goyang, South Korea, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

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)

South Korea's People Power Party former leader Han Dong-hun, left, and former Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo raise their hands during a party's convention in Goyang, South Korea, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)