Some rank-and-file members of the main opposition party have filed a petition to their ethics committee against the party’s lawmaker Rep. Jung Cheong-rae over his verbal attacks last week, revealing the deepening intraparty division.
Jung is at the center of an intensifying factional feud as he accused his colleague Rep. Joo Seung-yong of “blackmailing” the party while trading blame over the defeats in the April parliamentary by-elections.
“As a senior member of the party, Jung made comments that that he should not have,” said the members in their request delivered to the party’s ethics committee. People who filed the petition are reportedly non-mainstream members, raising speculation that their actions were taken to confront the pro-Roh faction within the party.
Jung criticized Joo, at a public meeting on Friday, for “blackmailing” the party, saying that he was issuing empty threats to step down from his position at the NPAD Supreme Council. He added that Joo was undermining the party’s unity amid falling approval ratings after the electoral defeats.
The attack followed Joo’s demand that Rep. Moon Jae-in step down as party chairman to take responsibility for the defeats.
Infuriated by Jung’s remark, Joo walked away from the meeting and said he would resign from his post as a supreme council member. NPAD chair Moon apologized for the incident, saying it was an embarrassment for the party. Despite Jung’s efforts to meet Joo to apologize, he could not.
The party’s ethics committee said it would start looking into the facts and decide later whether to begin an investigation.
“We are trying to verify the relevant facts regarding the case,” Rep. Kang Chang-il, chairman of NPAD ethics committee said.
“Once we complete the fact-checking process, we will take necessary steps such as giving (Jung) a chance to make his case,” he said.
By Yeo Jun-suk ()
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
