PPP to appoint new steering committee after existing members resign

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PPP to appoint new steering committee after existing members resign

Floor leader Kweon Seong-dong, center, speaks at a People Power Party's (PPP) national committee meeting to revise the party charter and pave way to launch a new emergency steering committee at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, Monday. [NEWS1]

Floor leader Kweon Seong-dong, center, speaks at a People Power Party's (PPP) national committee meeting to revise the party charter and pave way to launch a new emergency steering committee at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, Monday. [NEWS1]

 
The People Power Party's (PPP) emergency steering committee was dissolved Monday after all of its members quit to clear the way for the party to appoint a new leadership committee.
 
The PPP held national committee and standing national committee meetings and revised its party charter to overcome technical hurdles in order to establish a new emergency steering committee.
 
Under the amended charter, the PPP can form a new emergency steering committee in the case of a vacancy in the party chairman position or if at least four out of five elected members of its supreme council resign.
 
This comes as the PPP hurries to establish a new leadership after a court injunction filed by ousted chief Lee Jun-seok suspended its short-lived emergency steering committee led by Rep. Joo Ho-young.
 
Rep. Park Jeong-ha, a PPP spokesman, said that the supreme council members, including Joo and floor leader Kweon Seong-dong, expressed their intention to resign en masse following the party charter revision in the national committee to allow the party to move forward.
 
“The current emergency steering committee, while it has not been exercising its authority, has now been effectively dissolved,” he said.
 
The PPP has faced a leadership vacuum after its ethics committee in early July suspended Lee's party membership for six months over allegations that he accepted sexual bribery from a businessman in 2013 and later abetted in a cover-up attempt.
 
After the PPP launched a new emergency leadership committee on Aug. 16, effectively ousting the suspended chairman, Lee filed several lawsuits against the party.  
 
On Aug. 26, the Seoul Southern District Court temporarily suspended the duties of Joo, chair of the PPP's emergency steering committee, siding with Lee's argument that the party's circumstances didn't constitute an "emergency" as stipulated in its charter.
 
The PPP in turn declared its intention to launch a new emergency steering committee before the four-day Chuseok holiday, which begins Friday, with floor leader Kweon leading the process as acting chair.
 
The PPP is expected to hold national committee and standing national committee meetings on Thursday for the appointment of the chair and members of the new emergency steering committee to officially launch the new leadership.  
 
It is unclear who will be named as PPP new interim leader, with speculation pointing to Joo.  
 
When asked if he will be appointed as chief of the newly launched emergency committee as well, Joo told reporters Monday, “I don't know. I have to be asked in order to do it.”  
 
However, Lee could pursue further court action, meaning the current turmoil within the party may not be resolved anytime soon.  
 
On Sunday, Lee held a press conference in Daegu, a conservative stronghold, the first since the court decision, in which he openly lambasted President Yoon Suk-yeol and his PPP allies.
 
"It is unconstitutional to ignore the court decision and try to cover up its shame by hastily amending the party charter retroactively,” said Lee.  
 
Pointing to PPP lawmakers’ “blind obedience” to Yoon and his allies, Lee said that the current situation in the conservative party is “more dangerous” than in 2016 when President Park Geun-hye was impeached and later removed from office over an influence-peddling scandal.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
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