PPP suspends defector-turned-lawmaker for three-months

The conservative People Power Party's (PPP) ethics committee on Wednesday evening handed down a three-month membership suspension on Rep. Tae Yong-ho and a one-year suspension on Rep. Kim Jae-won for remarks that have attracted criticism.

People Power Party Rep. Tae Yong-ho exits a press conference at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, where he announced his resignation from the party's supreme council on Wednesday morning. [YONHAP]

The conservative People Power Party's (PPP) ethics committee on Wednesday evening handed down a three-month membership suspension on Rep. Tae Yong-ho and a one-year suspension on Rep. Kim Jae-won for remarks that have attracted criticism in recent weeks.

The one-year suspension of Kim's party membership precludes him from running in next year's parliamentary elections, but Tae will be able to stand in the race given his shorter punishment.

Tae said he would "humbly accept" his temporary suspension from the party.

Tae had announced his resignation from the party's supreme council on Wednesday morning, hours before the ethics committee was due to meet to decide what punitive measures to adopt against him and Kim.

Speaking at a press conference at the National Assembly at 10 a.m., Tae cited his desire "to no longer be a burden to the party on the one-year anniversary of President Yoon Suk Yeol taking office" as the reason behind his resignation.

The PPP lawmaker added that he did his "utmost to contribute to the success of the Yoon administration" but ultimately accepted "full responsibility for all controversies" stemming from his comments, which claimed that the 1948-49 Jeju April 3 Uprising was instigated by North Korea's founder and late leader Kim Il Sung.

Tae also found himself in hot water after a transcript leaked of his remarks to aides regarding an alleged conversation with Lee Jin-bok, the senior presidential political affairs secretary.

According to the transcript, Tae claimed Lee asked him to make comments supporting President Yoon Suk Yeol's efforts to improve relations with Japan while raising the topic of party nominations for next year's parliamentary elections.

Tae has also been accused of accepting money from candidates running to become councilors of his constituency in Seoul's Gangnam District in return for endorsing their nominations.

Tae previously served as Pyongyang's deputy ambassador to London before defecting to Seoul in 2016. He was elected to the National Assembly as a PPP lawmaker in 2020.

His decision to step down from the PPP supreme council, to which he was elected at the party's national convention in March, likely influenced the ethics committee's decision to hand him a lighter punishment.

Rep. Jun Joo-hyae, who serves as the deputy chair of the PPP ethics committee, told reporters before the meeting that "[Tae's] attitude of taking political responsibility is very meaningful."

Kim, who is now barred from running as a PPP candidate, wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday evening that he was "full of sorrow to all party members and people" who supported him, adding he would search for "other ways to serve the country and party."

Kim was referred to the ethics committee for remarks seen as tarnishing the reputations of victims of the Jeju Uprising and the May 1980 pro-democracy movement in Gwangju.

Kim has also been accused of expressing support for Jun Kwang-hoon, an extreme right-wing Christian pastor who defied social distancing regulations and organized mass demonstrations calling for the removal of former president Moon Jae-in from office.

Meanwhile, the rival Democratic Party (DP) criticized the PPP's relatively light punishment of Tae, calling it a "crude cover-up attempt" in a press release sent out on Wednesday.

In the release, DP senior spokesman Kwon Chil-seung argued that Tae was deliberately given a lighter punishment so as not to provoke him into divulging more damaging details about the presidential office's involvement in PPP nominations.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]