The People Power Party has been thrown into turmoil after lawmakers came to blows — including one grabbing the floor leader by the collar — over the allocation of standing committee seats. Party leadership vowed a firm response, saying violence cannot be justified under any circumstances.
PPP Secretary-General Jung Hee-yong said at a floor strategy meeting Friday that "something shameful to the public and devastating to us as fellow lawmakers has occurred," adding that "a lawmaker who was unhappy with the committee assignment apparently resorted to violence while lodging a protest."
Kwon Young-jin, a two-term lawmaker from Daegu, reportedly confronted floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik immediately after a plenary session Thursday, demanding that his committee assignment be reconsidered and protesting aggressively. A physical altercation broke out in the process.
Jung said the confrontation escalated further: "One lawmaker reportedly grabbed the floor leader by the collar, and then grabbed the collar of former floor leader Song Eon-seog, who had stepped in to intervene." He stressed that "protest and physical violence must be clearly distinguished."
"Violence can never be justified," Jung said. "Even as party members are out there fighting to reclaim their right to political participation, our party has shown a breakdown of dignity and order. We are deeply sorry for the disappointment this has caused party members and the public."
He added that the party would "take this incident with the utmost gravity" and "respond firmly and decisively to any conduct that damages the party's honor and dignity, to ensure this never happens again."
Floor leader Jeong did not attend the meeting Friday morning, citing a scheduled visit to the National Cemetery. Lee Geon-yong, director of Jeong's floor leader office, relayed the news of his absence, saying, "You will all have witnessed a situation in which the floor leader's authority was reduced to a matter of collar-grabbing."
The floor leadership moved to address the fallout. The deputy floor leader group issued a statement and decided to convene a general assembly of lawmakers to request a public apology from the lawmaker involved. Chief floor spokesperson Kim Tae-gyu told reporters there was "a shared sense that, as the facts come to light, we cannot simply paper over this as if nothing happened."
The party's staff union also weighed in. The PPP secretariat union issued a statement Friday expressing "deep regret over the violent conduct within the party, including the grabbing of the floor leader by the collar," and said that "while fierce disagreement and protest may occur, violence involving physical force cannot be justified for any reason."
The union urged the lawmaker to reflect deeply on his conduct, saying that "if there were objections to the committee assignments, they should have been resolved through dialogue and internal party procedures," and calling on the two-term lawmaker to "sincerely reflect on his wrongdoing and apologize to the public and party members, as many times as it takes."
mp1256@heraldcorp.com
