PPP’s Kim courts loyal base after impeachment fallout and presidential nomination turmoil

Up next we turn to the conservative camp whose contender is seeking support within his comfort zone if you will.

For more I have my colleague Kim Do-yeon joining me live.

Do-yeon welcome.

What's the latest at your end?

Sun-hee, I'm here at Jagalchi Market in Busan, the nation's second-largest city.

Now, Kim is set to appear on my stage behind me in about half an hour.

Kim is making his campaign tours in conservative strongholds, including Busan here, but for this election, that might not be the case.

The party started off with a disadvantage as this election comes with its former president being impeached and building up to the official campaign period the candidacy change issue caused internal turmoil between Kim and party leadership.

And that could be seen as the reason why Kim has chosen this region especially starting with Daegu yesterday and continuing to rally in the southeast.

Of course, he isn't coming empty-handed.

At a rally before here in Busan he was in the neighboring city of Ulsan a major industrial city, and promised the locals there a major multi-cultural complex.

"The city has requested a large-scale cultural complex, estimated to cost around 500 billion won. If I'm elected president, I'll make sure it doesn't take long. I'll allocate a special budget of that amount to Ulsan as soon as I take office."

In addition, he mentioned more jobs, improved infrastructure in the region.

His trip is not done, though.

He's staying here overnight and will hit smaller cities in Gyeongsangnam-do Province tomorrow as well.

2. You mentioned earlier that the conservative camp entered this particular race on the back foot.

How is its contender addressing this reality?

Sun-hee, that's right.

The elephant in the room remains former president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached due to his martial law declaration.

Kim, for the first time, apologized in a local media interview last night, acknowledging the chaos that ensued from the declaration.

And this morning, he addressed calls to expel Yoon from the party.

Take a listen.

"Whether the president leaves the party or not is up to him. It's not right for our party to tell the president to leave or stay. "

There are also voices in and around the party calling for an official public apology by the campaign about the martial law declaration.

While that hasn't been decided, both matters pose a complex situation as Kim has to keep party loyalists happy but needs to expand his supporter base among the undecided voters.

That's all for now, Sun-hee.

All right Do-yeon thank you for that coverage from the conservative camp.