SEOUL, Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), said Sunday he will do his job amid a report that the presidential office called for his resignation amid a controversy over candidate nominations for the April general elections.

Channel A, a cable news channel, reported Sunday that mainstream members of the PPP requested Han’s resignation amid the row over election nominations and that the presidential office also shared such a need.

“The path that (I’ve decided) to walk for the people, I will do my job,” Han said in a text message to reporters, indicating he has no intent to step down from the chairmanship of the PPP’s emergency leadership committee.

A controversy over the fairness of election nominations erupted after Han publicly supported a bid by Kim Gyeong-ryul, an outspoken member of the PPP’s emergency committee, to run in a district in Mapo, western Seoul, for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The move spawned backlash from some PPP members that Han ignored the party’
s election nomination process with the so-called “private nomination.”

In response to the media report, the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol said the issue of Han’s resignation is not a matter in which the presidential office would involve itself.

A separate media report earlier said Yoon has withdrawn his anticipation and support for Han over the controversy surrounding election nominations. Han, a former justice minister, is one of Yoon’s close aides.

In regard to the report, a presidential official told Yonhap News Agency that Yoon has “strong” principles of supporting fair, transparent and systemic election nominations.

Yoon’s office said Friday if the party reviews “strategically made nominations,” there should be certain principles and standards so that it does not look like giving preferential favors.

Source: Yonhap News Agency