Ruling party to hold nat'l committee to decide on transition to emergency leadership
來源: 開云體育app官方網站 時間: 2023-01-26 16:20:41
Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, floor leader of the ruling People Power Party / Yonhap
The Supreme Council of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) decided Tuesday to convene a meeting of the party's national committee to discuss switching to an emergency leadership system after breaking up the current leadership.
Four out of seven Supreme Council members voted for the motion to convene a national committee meeting, party spokesperson Park Hyeung-soo said. Approval by the national committee is necessary for the party to shift to the "emergency committee system."
A national committee meeting is expected to take place as early as Friday.
The ruling party has been in turmoil since acting chairman Kweon Seong-dong inadvertently exposed text messages he exchanged with President Yoon Suk-yeol last week in which Yoon was seen backbiting about suspended party chief Lee Jun-seok.
Party members raised questions about Kweon's leadership and urged him to take responsibility for the incident, which has accelerated drops in Yoon's approval ratings to below 30 percent in some surveys, unusually low ratings for a president less than three months in office.
Some Supreme Council members quit the top decision-making body in an apparent effort to break up the council so that the party can shift to the emergency committee system. Kweon also resigned as acting chairman of the party and agreed to switch to the emergency system.
Kweon took over as acting leader of the party early last month after Lee had his party membership suspended for six months over allegations that he received sexual services paid for by a businessperson in 2013 and attempted to cover it up after the allegations surfaced late last year.
He is known as one of Yoon's closest confidants, called Yoonhaekgwan ― an abbreviation of "Yoon Suk-yeol's core associates" in Korean ― that also include Reps. Chang Je-won and Yoon Han-hong.
Lee has constantly been at odds with Yoonhaekgwan. (Yonhap)
