SEOUL (Kyodo) -- Former South Korean Employment and Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo registered his presidential candidacy Sunday after his conservative party voted down a motion to replace him with a former prime minister.

Kim was officially nominated as the People Power Party's presidential candidate on May 3 after defeating former party leader Han Dong Hoon in the final round of the party's primary.

The nomination, however, quickly drew strong resistance from party leaders, who pressured Kim to withdraw and called an emergency vote on whether to replace him with former Prime Minister Han Duck Soo.

Senior party members looked to unify candidates to garner broader support to win in the upcoming election on June 3. But the motion was ultimately rejected, reinstating Kim as the party's official nominee.

With Kim's registration on Sunday, he is set to face the main opposition Democratic Party's Lee Jae Myung, who currently leads in many opinion polls, in the race to succeed former President Yoon Suk Yeol of the conservative party.

Yoon was ousted as president early last month after the Constitutional Court ruled his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law unconstitutional and upheld the impeachment passed by parliament. Kim has opposed Yoon's impeachment.