SEOUL– Ruling People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok spoke about the economy, people’s livelihoods and job creation Wednesday as he sought to appear unfazed on the eve of an ethics committee meeting that could unseat him as party leader.
The PPP’s ethics committee is scheduled to meet Thursday to determine whether and how to discipline Lee over allegations that he received sexual services paid for by a businessman as a bribe in 2013 and attempted to cover up the case.
While he has claimed innocence, the scandal is considered to be the biggest crisis yet for Lee, who won the PPP chairmanship last year and became the first person in his 30s to take the helm of a major political party in South Korea.
It is the first time in the party’s history that a party chairman has been referred to the committee.
On Wednesday, Lee went about his daily routine without comments on the case, attending a meeting of party leaders and senior government officials and talking about how important it is to bolster the semiconductor industry while at the same time taking better care of people’s livelihoods.
“I think it is important to revive the value of warm-hearted conservatism,” he said.
Any punishment stronger than a warning could imperil his political career and prompt the ruling party to elect a new leader, given that Lee’s chairmanship is set to end in June.
The PPP runs a four-tier disciplinary system, which ranges from a warning to a maximum 3-year suspension in party membership, a recommendation to leave the party and an expulsion.
But even if the committee decides to take disciplinary action, it is likely that Lee will not succumb easily. The PPP chairman has stressed that he cannot accept any decision until an ongoing police probe is finalized.
The committee’s decision is also expected to reshape the party’s power structure at a time when Lee is embroiled in a power struggle over party leadership with a pro-Yoon faction of PPP lawmakers.
A decision to not punish Lee, meanwhile, is set to bolster Lee’s party leadership and set him free from the allegations that have persistently dogged him since a far right-wing YouTube channel raised them in December.
The PPP chairman recently launched a reform committee in a move seen as cementing his leadership and gaining firm control of the conservative party against pro-Yoon lawmakers.
With either decision expected to sway the party’s power structure, some lawmakers projected that the committee may decide to take a more cautious approach.
“If the ethics committee decides to take disciplinary action in an arbitrary manner, without (waiting for) the police investigation results, it will rock the party,” PPP Rep. Ha Tae-keung said in an interview with radio outlet BBS, saying it would be “most desirable” for the committee to wait for the probe to wrap up.
Source: Yonhap News Agency