The People Power Party is splitting again. The party's Central Ethics Committee voted to expel former leader Han Dong-hoon over the "party members' bulletin board incident." With only the Supreme Council's approval left on Han's expulsion, pro-Han figures and junior lawmakers are urging Jang Dong-hyeok to overturn the ethics panel's decision.
The People Power Party's freshman and sophomore lawmakers' group "Alternative and Future" held a press conference at the National Assembly's press center on the morning of the 14th, saying, "The expulsion decision (against the former leader) is an unconstitutional act that denies freedom of expression, a cornerstone of liberal democracy, and party democracy," and added, "We ask (Leader Jang) to reconsider the Ethics Committee's expulsion decision against the former leader."
Song Seok-jun, a People Power Party lawmaker with Alternative and Future, told reporters after the press conference, "This goes beyond internal sniping and is a grave act of self-harm and self-destruction," adding, "We cannot help but suspect that there is some intentional, premeditated plan underlying this."
The strongest backlash to the ethics panel's decision also came from the pro-Han camp. Pro-Han lawmaker Park Jeong-hoon wrote on Facebook the same day, "Leader Jang Dong-hyeok, who, fronting the 'Yoon Again' faction, made the worst undemocratic decision that will go down in party history, must overturn this resolution at the Supreme Council," adding, "We will no longer stand by a party leadership that is driving the party down the path of election defeat for private gain."
Pro-Han youth Supreme Council member Woo Jae-joon likewise wrote on Facebook, "The reason for expelling the former leader is ultimately retaliation for supporting impeachment," adding, "It is lamentable how our party has fallen into such a state." Lawmaker Han Ji-a also said, "Expelling the former leader is a decision to drive our party to self-destruction. We reject self-serving politics."
In the People Power Party Seoul chapter's New Year's gathering held that morning, internal conflict also erupted over expelling Han Dong-hoon. Lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin, the Seoul chapter chair, called the expulsion "the maximum subtraction," urging, "We must revive the People Power Party as a sound, competent, and ethical conservative party by not repeating the foolish behavior of mudslinging within the party or driving out (the former leader), and by gathering every single seed and every breeze." At the venue, party members' calls to withdraw the former leader's expulsion clashed with chants of "Han Dong-hoon traitor."
The party leadership will convene a general meeting of lawmakers on the 15th to discuss the expulsion of the former leader. That is because junior People Power Party lawmakers submitted a request to the floor administration office to convene the meeting. As the Supreme Council meeting is also set for the morning of the same day, the expulsion of the former leader could be approved first. After the Supreme Council's vote to expel, a retrial process is expected to proceed depending on the former leader's decision.
Yoon Hee-seok, a former People Power Party Spokesperson from the pro-Han camp, appeared on YTN Radio the same day and said, "I believe that seeking various responses is fundamentally an activity premised on being party members," adding, "Since nothing has been decided yet at the Supreme Council, we will pool our thoughts a bit more after that and determine practical response measures."