The Democratic Party of Korea on the 16th handed down a one-year party membership suspension to Choi Kang-wook, former head of the party's Education and Training Institute, who sparked controversy over a second round of harm with remarks seen as defending the Rebuilding Korea Party's sexual misconduct.
That afternoon at the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, the Democratic Party held a meeting of the Ethics Tribunal and voted to impose a one-year suspension of party membership on the former director. The Democratic Party plans to finalize the level of discipline after reporting the Ethics Tribunal's decision to the Supreme Council on the 17th.
After the meeting, Ethics Tribunal Chief Han Dong-soo told reporters, "(The former director) damaged dignity as a party official and was judged to have violated the party's code of ethics," adding, "After careful deliberation, we voted to impose a one-year suspension of party membership, which constitutes heavy discipline."
Earlier, on the 31st of last month in Daejeon, at the Rebuilding Korea Party's Daejeon-Sejong Political Academy event, the former director was reported to have said of the Rebuilding Korea Party's sexual misconduct case, "How many people know the facts exactly?" and "As someone looking at it from a step back, is that really something to live or die over?" sparking controversy over a second round of harm.
On the 4th, Democratic Party leader Jeong Cheong-rae urgently ordered the party's Ethics Inspection Team to conduct a fact-finding probe into the former director. Afterward, the former director resigned from the post of head of the party's Education and Training Institute, calling it "the minimum courtesy to those who felt much burden and hurt because of me."