PPP emergency committee chair vows to finalize Yoon Suk Yeol's departure from party
Published: 16 May. 2025, 14:45
![Kim Yong-tae, interim leader of the People Power Party, speaks at a press briefing at the National Assembly on May 15. [JOONGANG ILBO]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/05/16/90ff10ca-c319-415e-9624-2eecd3f480de.jpg)
Kim Yong-tae, interim leader of the People Power Party, speaks at a press briefing at the National Assembly on May 15. [JOONGANG ILBO]
Kim Yong-tae, the new emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party (PPP), said Friday he would finalize the matter of former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s departure from the party by this weekend.
Kim had publicly urged the former president, who was impeached over his botched imposition of martial law in December of last year, to voluntarily leave the party the day before.
"I'll reach out to [former President Yoon] later this afternoon and speak with him directly," Kim said while speaking during a morning interview on a KBS Radio program on Friday.
“I believe those who supported or opposed [Yoon’s] impeachment made their decisions with patriotism and sincerity. But in order to move beyond the division caused by the impeachment, the issue concerning the [former] president has already been resolved in principle.”
Kim also said the party was considering institutional reforms regardless of the recommendation for Yoon’s departure.
“We’re reviewing ways to amend the party charter to restrict party membership for elected officials whose actions have been ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court,” he said. “This would be a way to acknowledge and reflect on past wrongdoing.”
The remarks follow Kim’s earlier pledge made during his inaugural press conference the day before, in which he said he would formally urge Yoon to leave the PPP.
“I will meet with former President Yoon as soon as possible and ask him to make a decision for the sake of the party and our chances in the next presidential election,” he said. “I believe he will make a rational decision.”
Meanwhile, Yoon reportedly made late-night and early-morning calls between Thursday and Friday to several PPP lawmakers, asking them to support Kim Moon-soo’s presidential campaign.
Yoon was quoted as saying, “I’m willing to do whatever is helpful.”
Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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