The People Power Party on Monday effectively urged Rep. Kwon Young-jin to voluntarily leave the party over an incident in which he grabbed floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik by the collar to protest his committee assignment for the second half of the National Assembly session. Party leadership also reached a consensus that if Kwon refuses to quit, he should face the harshest available disciplinary action, up to and including expulsion.
Park Sung-hoon, the PPP's chief spokesperson, told reporters at the National Assembly after a closed-door supreme council meeting that "the party leadership reached unanimous agreement that this matter must be dealt with severely and forcefully," adding that "all members of the leadership present agreed that the highest level of discipline — including expulsion — is necessary."
Park said council members concluded that "this is not a matter that can simply be resolved with a personal apology," and that Kwon should "take responsibility for his conduct and act accordingly, along with a public apology." He added that "this issue must not be viewed through the distorted frame of pro-leadership versus anti-leadership factions."
Park also said some members called for the ethics committee to convene immediately, warning that "turning a blind eye to this would amount to tacitly allowing a second or third incident of the same kind."
The incident occurred Thursday, when Kwon went to confront Jeong and grabbed him by the collar in a heated protest over his committee assignment. Kwon had been assigned as the ranking member of the Public Administration and Security Committee but had sought the same position on the Intelligence Committee.
As the controversy spread, Kwon posted an apology in a lawmakers' group chat on Telegram and stepped down from both his role as ranking member of the Public Administration and Security Committee and his expected appointment as the next PPP Daegu chapter chairman.
Jeong said Monday he would "forget all past grievances and fulfill his duties as floor leader for the sake of the people's lives, the nation and the normalization of South Korea," signaling a willingness to move on — but party leadership continued to push for stronger action, including Kwon's departure from the party.
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