The ruling Saenuri Party came under fire for its membership list leak, ahead of its presidential candidate primary.

The right-wing party kicked off an internal investigation task force on Friday to look into the charges that a ranking official sold the party’s member register to a text message provider in January-March, before the April general elections.

The list included the personal information such as names, addresses and telephone numbers of some 2.2 million party members, according to prosecutors.

The official, identified by his surname Lee, reportedly took 4 million won ($3,438) in return.

“We have organized a fact-finding panel to look into the situations and to discuss follow-up measures,” said the party secretary-general Rep. Suh Byung-soo in an urgent press conference on Friday.

“We are deeply sorry for failing to safeguard the member register, which is a top priority factor for a political party.”

The panel, led by former prosecutor Rep. Park Min-shik, started off the investigation by questioning the nine party officials who are authorized to access the archive server.

Rep. Suh, nevertheless, affirmed that the leak will not impede the objectiveness and fairness of the upcoming presidential primary.

The party’s underdog candidates, such as Reps. Chung Mong-joon and Lee Jae-oh, and Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo claimed that the list may be abused in favor of a specific frontrunner in the primary.

Despite its fast-paced measures, the ruling party was faced with the internal backlash from its members, as well as the offensive from the opposition camp.

“The Saenuri Party should admit that it is not competent enough to take over power in the next term,” said the main opposition Democratic United Party’s vice spokesperson through a statement.

“The fact that a ruling party official sold the member register for profits does not only infringe on the party members’ rights but also stokes up the public’s distrust on party politics.”

Some even demanded that the party leadership resign en masse, taking responsibility for the scandal.

“We will express our stance, once the fact-finding process completes its investigation,” said party chief Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, refraining from responding to such calls.

The Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office earlier sought for an arrest warrant on Lee for the violation of the Personal Information Protection Act.

Authorities also plan on expanding the probe, should the text message provider turn out to have campaigned for a specific candidate before the April elections.

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