'Hard to win Greater Seoul elections without Han's return'

'Jang cannot stay on as leader if involvement proven'

People Power Party lawmaker Park Jeong-hun. [Yonhap]
People Power Party lawmaker Park Jeong-hun. [Yonhap]

People Power Party lawmaker Park Jeong-hun said Friday that if allegations of a fabricated disciplinary action against independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon are confirmed, the punishment would be void — and that party leader Jang Dong-hyeok would be unable to remain in his post if his involvement in the process is also established.

Speaking on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" that day, Park addressed allegations recently raised by central ethics committee member Hwang Gyeong-seong, saying the claims amounted to an ethics committee member directly stating that the disciplinary action at the time had been fabricated. "This came out because of a crack within the group of people who had internally conspired to carry out the process," Park said.

Park added that the timing — with the allegations surfacing just as discussions about Han's return to the party were beginning — suggested those involved may themselves believe the disciplinary action against Han was wrong and that he should be readmitted. "I think they are pushing this forward with the view that Han's expulsion was unjust and that he should be allowed back," Park said.

Park said that if physical evidence emerges showing Jang intervened in the disciplinary process, it would constitute a violation of the party ethics committee's rules on independence. "Our party's ethics committee regulations clearly state that it operates independently," Park said. "If evidence shows there was intervention, that is a breach of those rules."

Asked about Jang's repeated assertions that he had no authority to interfere in ethics committee decisions, Park said those claims were now being exposed as false. "The implication was that the decision had been made independently — but it is becoming clear that was a lie," Park said.

Park also said the grounds for the disciplinary action itself were problematic. "There are two aspects to the fabricated discipline," Park said. "One is that the committee is required to act independently — if someone intervened to impose the punishment, that makes it fabricated. The second is that the grounds for the discipline were themselves fabricated."

If Jang's involvement is confirmed, Park said the party would have no choice but to investigate and that legal consequences would be unavoidable. "He violated party rules and abused his authority," Park said.

On whether Jang could remain as party leader in that scenario, Park said it would be difficult, noting that Jang had already struggled to hold on after the party's crushing defeat in the local elections. "In that process, there were problems stemming from his efforts to eliminate his biggest rivals," Park said.

On the question of Han's return to the party, Park acknowledged that Han's conduct during the martial law and impeachment period had "clearly wounded" the party's traditional base, but said the majority of the public had judged his stance to be correct. "We need to be a party that wins elections," Park said, adding that while the party must tend to the wounds felt by its members, it must also persuade them that the party cannot win without change.


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