[News Today] Ahn quits PPP reform committee chair

[LEAD]
Ahn Cheol-soo, the People Power Party's reform committee chair, has abruptly stepped down. He says the party leadership rejected even his minimal proposal for personnel change. His abrupt resignation has left the party in disarray.

[REPORT]
The main opposition People Power Party announced the composition of its party reform committee Monday morning.

Park Sung-hoon / Senior spokesperson, PPP
I announce that emergency committee members have accepted chair Ahn's proposal.

But the mood changed in less than ten minutes.

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo who was to chair the committee abruptly declared his resignation.

He said his minimal demand for personnel reform was rejected and criticized the party for lacking the will to reform itself.

Ahn Cheol-soo / People Power Party
I talked with the emergency committee several times convinced minimal level of personnel reform was needed but we failed to reach an agreement.

Ahn's proposal is said to have called for the expulsion of former emergency committee chair Kwon Young-se and former floor leader Kweon Seong-dong from the party.

Instead, Ahn declared his bid to run for party leader, vowing to fix the party by picking up the scalpel.

The leadership, taken aback, has scrambled to take follow-up measures.

Song Eon-seok / PPP interim chair, floor leader
It would've been better if the committee sorted out reform tasks and gathered opinions. I'm perplexed. It's regrettable.

Some within the party have blasted Ahn's action calling it his 'trademark politics of withdrawal' or 'cram politics' where he resigns from a post just five days after accepting it.

But those close to former party chair Han Dong-hoon criticized the leadership for rejecting some appointments to the reform committee, and demanded its resignation.

The focus now is on the PPP's national convention which will elect its next leader.

Six-term lawmaker Cho Kyoung-tae and now Ahn Cheol-soo have joined the leadership race while former presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo and former chair Han Dong-hoon are also weighing their moves.

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