The Democratic Party of Korea handed down heavy disciplinary action against three officials of its North Chungcheong Provincial Party who were embroiled in allegations of leaking the party membership list.
According to the political community on Feb. 4, the Democratic Party resolved at a personnel committee meeting the previous day to dismiss two of the three officials related to the North Chungcheong Provincial Party's alleged leak of the party membership list and to impose a three-month pay cut on one. Lawmaker Lee Gwang-hee, who had been the North Chungcheong Provincial Party chair, also offered to resign.
Park Soo-hyun, the Democratic Party's chief spokesperson, said, "We viewed this as a very serious matter that could call into question the fairness of the June 3 local elections and decided on heavy disciplinary measures," and noted, "Jung Chung-rae, the party leader, again warned that if such incidents occur in the future, heavy disciplinary measures will be imposed without exception, and he asked for transparent nomination management."
Recently, within the Democratic Party's North Chungcheong Provincial Party, allegations of a leak of the party membership list were raised, saying that a message sent in the name of a prospective candidate for Cheongju mayor was delivered even to those who had recently joined the party. In response, the central party launched an investigation, including opening an Ethics Inspection Team probe into the case.