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Lee Jun-seok, the party leader of the People Power Party, attends a memorial marking the 73rd anniversary of the death of Kim Koo on June 26 at the Kim Koo Museum & Library in Seoul. (pool photo)

On Thursday, People Power Party (PPP) leader Lee Jun-seok will be facing a disciplinary review by his party’s central ethics committee chaired by Lee Yang-hui — an event that may make or break his political fate.

The leader of a ruling party has never been tried by his own party over the ethics of his conduct in the history of the constitutional government of South Korea. What’s being characterized as a power struggle within the ruling camp early on in the Yoon Suk-yeol administration as well, the case of Lee Jun-seok being up for disciplinary action may have repercussions far and wide no matter the outcome.

The allegation that Lee Jun-seok received sexual favors was first raised last December, when Yoon’s poll numbers as the PPP’s presidential candidate were rather shaky.

At the time, the YouTube channel Garo Sero Institute made the allegation that Lee Jun-seok received sexual favors as a bribe from Kim Sung-jin, the CEO of startup i-KAIST, at a hotel located in the Yuseong District of Daejeon in 2013, a year after Lee completed his tenure as a member of the Saenuri Party’s interim leadership committee.

The institute claimed that its allegation had been confirmed through investigation materials from the Daejeon District Prosecutors’ Office. Subsequently, the YouTube channel’s host, a lawyer named Kang Yong-seok, filed a complaint with the PPP’s central ethics committee on behalf of roughly 20,000 PPP members, also reporting the case to the prosecution service.

However, the committee decided on Dec. 30, 2021, to not commence a disciplinary process against Lee.

Kang’s request for disciplinary action had been dismissed because the allegation made against Lee was considered dubious finger-pointing. However, the case took a turn when the Garo Sero Institute doubled down on its allegation and released a voice recording as proof in April.

It was revealed that in January, Lee’s assistant and close associate Kim Chul-keun had met Kim Sung-jin’s attendant surnamed Chang, who had originally tipped off the Garo Sero Institute about Lee. At this meeting, Kim Chul-keun received from Chang a confirmation certificate attesting no sexual favors had been exchanged and promised 700 million won in investments to a dermatology clinic in Daejeon. The institute made public the memorandum promising 700 million won in investments as well as a recording of the phone conversation among Lee, Kim Chul-keun and Chang, arguing that Lee and Kim had attempted to destroy evidence against Lee.

In light of this, the PPP’s ethics panel unanimously voted to begin Lee’s disciplinary proceedings on April 21. Unlike the initial allegation, the newly raised allegation had been supported by evidence such as a recording and a memorandum, and the committee had concluded that disciplinary review was necessary.

Scheduling the disciplinary review caused arguments, and eventually, the ethics committee postponed its meeting to after the local elections on June 1 based on the political judgment that discussions about disciplining the party leader should not negatively impact the local elections.

Ultimately, the committee held a meeting on June 22, when Kim Chul-keun was summoned and asked to make his case, after which it decided to begin disciplinary proceedings for Kim as well for “violating [his] obligation to maintain [his] dignity concerning the allegation that [he] tried to destroy evidence regarding sexual favors.” The committee is reviewing whether or not to discipline Kim Chul-keun by focusing on why he promised 700 million won in investments to Chang and whether Lee instructed Kim and intervened in the process.

By Sun Dam-eun, staff reporter

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