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Lee Yang-hee, the head of the PPP’s ethics committee, reads a statement on allegations that party leader Lee Jun-seok instructed an aide to destroy evidence of sexual bribery. (pool photo)

On Friday, the People Power Party’s central ethics committee, chaired by Lee Yang-hee, decided to suspend the party membership of party chairperson Lee Jun-seok for six months.

Lee was accused of violating his duty to maintain the party’s dignity as a result of his alleged involvement in the destruction of evidence related to the sexual bribery scandal he has been embroiled in for months.

Kim Cheol-keun, the head of the party’s political affairs office suspected of destroying evidence by visiting an informant who arranged sexual favors for Lee, was handed a two-year suspension from party membership.

After deliberating for nearly eight hours, from 7:00 pm Thursday to 2:45 am Friday, the ethics committee decided to impose severe disciplinary action on Lee Jun-seok.

The subject of the committee's deliberation was the violation of the duty to maintain dignity due to the attempts of Lee Jun-seok and Kim to destroy evidence.

Kim, a close aide to Lee Jun-seok, met with someone surnamed Jang on Jan. 10, who claimed to have provided sexual favors for the PPP leader. During the meeting, Kim promised an investment worth 700 million won (US$538,700) for a skincare clinic in Daejeon in exchange for receiving a statement denying any allegations of sexual favors.

Kim claimed that Lee Jun-seok did not order him to meet Jang, and that the investment promise bore no relation to the allegations of sexual favors.

Lee Jun-seok was also present at the ethics committee the previous day when gave his account of the incident for three hours, but the committee appears to have not accepted this.

Lee Yang-hee, who headed up the ethics panel, said the committee had ultimately judged it difficult to fully believe Lee Jun-seok’s claims, particularly that Kim, who is subordinate to the party leader, would act independently.

According to Lee Yang-hee, the ethics committee concluded that the fact-checked evidence, the impact of this scandal on Lee Jun-seok and the entire party, the relationship between Kim and Lee Jun-seok, statements and depositions of those involved in the scandal, and various facts published by the media made it difficult to accept the PPP chairman’s account of the events.

The ethics committee judged that Lee Jun-seok’s actions violated Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the People Power Party’s ethics regulations, which states that members should “be mindful of their manners and act in a reasonable way” while “not damaging the party's honor or speaking or acting inconsistently with the public sentiment."

The committee stated that the decision to suspend Lee was not made as a result of the sexual bribery scandal, since that was not subject to disciplinary review. “The decision was made taking into account Lee Jun-seok’s contribution and service to the party,” according to the committee.

By Kim Hae-jeong, staff reporter; Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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