Lee Jun-seok, Party Rights Suspended for 1 More Year: No Longer Eligible for Party Convention

Lee Yang-hee, chairperson of the People Power Party ethics committee, answers questions from the press when attending a meeting of the central ethics committee at the National Assembly on October 6. Yonhap News

On October 7, the People Power Party (PPP) central ethics committee decided to enforce additional penalties against former party leader Lee Jun-seok and suspend his party rights for one more year for requesting an injunction to block the party’s national committee and for making reckless comments targeting pro-Yoon lawmakers. The suspension against Lee will now last longer than his remaining term as party leader, so the party has practically decided to keep the leader position vacant. This also removes any possibility of Lee running for key positions in the party convention.

The party’s ethics committee held a meeting at the National Assembly on Thursday evening and reached the decision after discussions on disciplinary measures against Lee, according to the committee chairperson Lee Yang-hee on Friday.

The ethics committee distributed a press release this day and explained the reason for the disciplinary action against Lee. They claimed Lee went against party opinion and requested an injunction to block the amendment of the party’s constitution and the establishment of a new emergency response committee and argued that he failed to fulfill his duty as a party member by not following party decisions. They also said, “He knew there were no mistakes in the procedures to organize a national standing committee and a national committee, yet he asked for another injunction to stop the party from holding a national committee scheduled on September 5. By doing so, he refused to follow a legal court decision.” The committee also argued that Lee defamed party lawmakers by constantly resorting to insults and accusations.

It was probably difficult for the PPP ethics committee to enforce the strongest penalties, such as expulsion, since the results of the police investigation on Lee have yet to be released. According to the ethics committee regulations, additional disciplinary measures must be stronger than existing measures (6-month suspension of party rights), so the committee opted for a longer suspension. Unlike an expulsion, the suspension of party rights does not require the approval of the Supreme Council (emergency committee).

Previously on July 8, the PPP ethics committee suspended Lee’s party rights for six months for allegedly trying to destroy evidence, which the committee deemed violated his obligation to maintain dignity. Afterwards, when the party decided to switch to governance by an emergency steering committee to block Lee’s return, he fiercely criticized President Yoon and his aides, calling them a “new military regime” and claiming they “cried lamb and sold dog meat (crying wine and selling vinegar).” Early last month, Lee requested an injunction to block the People Power Party from holding a national committee, during which the party planned to stipulate grounds for switching to an emergency committee in the party’s constitution after “Joo Ho-young’s emergency committee” failed to launch. In a meeting on September 18, the ethics committee began procedures for additional penalties against Lee for seeking the injunction to block the national committee, which the party had justly decided to hold, and for using offensive expressions without any objective grounds.

Lee received two penalties, and together, the suspension of his party rights will end in January 2024. Thus if the suspensions are upheld, Lee will not be eligible for the party convention scheduled in February 2023. For pro-Yoon Suk-yeol members, the court’s decision on Thursday to dismiss Lee’s request for an injunction allowed Chung Jin-suk’s emergency committee to continue. On top of that, the additional penalty against Lee certainly left the party leader position vacant and also blocked Lee from running in the party convention. So they have practically finished driving him out.

Lee Jun-seok was asked to appear before the ethics committee on Thursday and explain his position, but he did not show up. He claimed the ethics committee did not present specific reasons for the disciplinary measures and did not give him enough time to respond. Some party members believe Lee will request an injunction to block the ethics committee from enforcing the latest decision. Some even suspect that he might have opted not to appear in Thursday’s meeting to raise an issue over the committee failing to properly give him a chance to explain himself.