Former People Power Party (PPP) Chairman Lee Jun-seok, center, leaves the Seoul Southern District Court, Sept. 14, after a hearing on an injunction suspending the enforcement of disciplinary measures against him based on the PPP constitution. Yonhap

By Kwon Mee-yoo

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) held an emergency ethics committee meeting, Sunday afternoon, and decided to take additional disciplinary measures against its former chairman, Lee Jun-seok.

Lee has been under fire for his harsh words against President Yoon Suk-yeol as well as the party. He is also embroiled in a sexual bribery case and questioned by police Saturday for about 12 hours over allegations of receiving sexual services twice in exchange for favors in 2013.

In July, the PPP held an ethics committee meeting and suspended Lee's party membership for six months over the bribery investigation, ultimately depriving him of his chairpersonship.

Lee Yang-hee, chairperson of the PPP's committee, said a disciplinary procedure is now open over the former chairman's "insulting, reprehensive" words against the party members, which harmed the party's unity as well as prestige, after a three-hour meeting.

It is unusual for a party to hold an emergency meeting on a weekend. The meeting came right after Lee was questioned by the police as well as President Yoon's departure for London for a three-nation trip including the United States and Canada.

Lee has been consistently critical of the committee, claiming that it is making moves against him while the president is out of the country.

"If you examine those people for a few months, they always do something when the president leaves the country or goes somewhere," Lee said during a radio program, Thursday, suggesting the possibility of additional disciplinary action against him as Yoon was scheduled to depart Sunday morning.

Ahead of the ethics committee session, Sunday, Lee criticized the committee again on Facebook, blaming it for serving the interests of Yoon's close aides.

"They will overplay things once again for the benefit of Yoon's supporters today," Lee wrote, Sunday.

Lee Yang-hee, the ethics committee head of the ruling People Power Party, speaks during a press briefing ahead of an emergency meeting, concerning additional punitive measures against former party chairperson Lee Jun-seok, at the National Assembly in Seoul, Sunday. Joint Press Corps

The committee's head said the meeting was called as more than a third of the ethics committee members requested it.

The PPP's ethics committee released a statement on Sept. 1 that it respects the party members' opinions seeking additional punishment against the former chairperson for his strongly worded criticisms of the party and close aides to the president.

Since Lee's party membership is already suspended for six months, the new measure is expected to be stronger, including permanent expulsion from the party.

After the committee announced its decision to take additional punitive measures against him, the former chairman showed his displeasure with the decision, citing Article 19 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression," in a Facebook post.

The level of disciplinary action against Lee is likely to be decided during the committee's plenary session scheduled for Sept. 28.