Injunction forces PPP to set up new temporary leadership

Politics

Published: 28 Aug. 2022, 18:48

Injunction forces PPP to set up new temporary leadership

From left: Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Dae-ki, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and People Power Party floor leader Kweon Seong-dong talk before a meeting at the prime minister's residence in Jongno District, central Seoul on Sunday. [KIM SEONG-RYONG]

The People Power Party (PPP) was thrown into a state of chaos after a court injunction Friday suspended the head of its current emergency leadership.

The party attempted to repair the damage by saying it would make preparations to form a new emergency committee altogether.

Following a five-hour crisis meeting of lawmakers that began at 4 p.m. Saturday, party spokespersons Park Hyung-soo and Yang Keum-hee announced in a 9 p.m. press briefing that the party would disband the current emergency committee and set up a new one, a mere 10 days after the committee began.

“Given the unprecedented circumstances, we have decided to revise the party’s regulations first and to set up a new emergency committee,” they said.

On Friday, the Seoul Southern District Court partially granted an injunction request filed by former party leader Lee Jun-seok, ordering a temporary suspension of duties for the party’s interim chair, Rep. Joo Ho-young.

Joo, a five-term lawmaker, was named leader of the PPP’s emergency steering committee at an Aug. 9 national committee meeting attended by 73 of the PPP’s 115 sitting lawmakers in the National Assembly that approved the transition to the new leadership structure.

Joo was expected to lead the party until a convention could be held to name a permanent party leader.

The party’s move to implement an emergency steering committee came after Lee Jun-seok’s party membership was suspended over allegations that he accepted sexual favors and 11.5 million won ($8,800) in bribes from a business owner in 2013 while he was on an emergency steering committee of the Grand National Party, the PPP's predecessor.

Floor leader Kweon Seong-dong briefly became acting leader following Lee’s suspension, but landed in hot water in late July after a scathing text exchange about Lee between him and President Yoon Suk-yeol was photographed over his shoulder.

The court’s partial approval of the injunction filed by Lee has dealt the party a major setback.

In its ruling, the court acknowledged “irreversible damage” to Lee’s ability to return as the PPP’s chairman if Joo later holds a party convention to elect a new party leader.

Although the PPP argued it had switched to an interim leadership structure due to a “state of emergency,” the court said the emergency was invoked by some party members to justify a change of leadership and ordered that Joo’s duties be suspended until there comes a decision in the main lawsuit.

The court, however, rejected Lee’s other request to suspend the emergency steering committee because it failed to meet the necessary conditions, leaving the PPP’s temporary leadership structure in place for now.

The PPP immediately appealed the decision, calling it “an excessive violation of a political party’s autonomous and internal decision-making.”

The party is expected to hold a general meeting early this week to discuss a revision of party rules for the establishment of a new committee, according to officials.

Some PPP officials initially said the party might maintain the current emergency committee, but the party decided to form a new one because Lee said he would seek another injunction to suspend all current committee members if the party kept the current system.

The party, however, said the current emergency committee itself is still valid until the court delivers a ruling in the main lawsuit, as Friday's decision only affected Joo’s status.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]