The ruling Saenuri Party faces the difficult choice of whether to expel two of its newly elected lawmakers hit by scandals during campaigns.

Their expulsion would strip the party of its majority in the next Assembly.

Allegations about the two lawmakers-elect threaten the public image of party leader Rep. Park Geun-hye as a potential president as she prioritized moral standards in reforming the party which she took over as chief crisis manager.

The lawmakers in question are Moon Dae-sung, who won in Busan’s Saha-A constituency, and Kim Hyung-tae in Pohang’s Namgu constituency.

Moon, an Olympic gold medalist in taekwondo and member of the International Olympic Committee, was suspected of plagiarizing his doctoral papers at Kookmin University. The university is currently investigating.

Kim, a former reporter at KBS, was accused of attempted sexual assault against the wife of his deceased younger brother. Kim has filed suit against his sister-in-law for defamation.

Despite the scandals, both candidates were elected in the conservative strongholds, winning more than 40 percent of the vote.

Under the public election law, an elected official will lose a seat if they are sentenced to a jail term or fined 1 million won ($880) or more.

The main opposition Democratic United Party urged the two to voluntarily renounce their seats and the ruling party to acknowledge its fault in candidate selection.

Lee Jun-seok, member of the Saenuri emergency leadership council, said likewise.

“The party should boldly correct its faults in order to meet the people’s expectations, even if it costs the hard-gained majority,” Lee said last week after the election.

He also suggested that the party should not decide Moon’s fate until the university declares its official stance, but immediately expel Kim until he clears his name.

“I expect Rep. Park to take a firm hand in the issue as she has always underlined the candidates’ moral qualities.”

The party leadership, however, has so refrained from speaking out on the issue.

“We shall thoroughly investigate the given allegations before deciding on their expulsion,” said Park.

Her situation is delicate as the party could lose its parliamentary majority should the two be stripped of their seats or expelled from the party.

The right wing party surprised many last week by winning 152 seats, including proportional representative ones, out of the total 300.

The 19th National Assembly is scheduled to kick off on May 30.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)