Rep. Choi Min-hee [Yonhap]
Rep. Choi Min-hee [Yonhap]

The Democratic Party of Korea's freshman lawmakers' group held an emergency meeting Sunday over the controversy surrounding Supreme Council member Choi Min-hee.

The group's steering committee convened an emergency video conference that evening to discuss how to respond to Choi, but reached no conclusion.

Participants broadly agreed that the matter should be treated with the utmost gravity.

One lawmaker who attended said there was agreement that "the situation is serious and we need to take a position," adding that the group planned to meet again Monday to finalize and announce its stance.

Before the meeting, one member of the group told Yonhap by phone that the mood was that Choi had "gone too far," and indicated that a heavy disciplinary measure was unavoidable.

On Choi's description of National Assembly photo and video journalists as a "pack of hyenas," the lawmaker said it was "a serious verbal blunder against the entire press and has damaged the party's image."

Regarding Choi's remarks at a regional party member forum — where she claimed that President Lee Jae Myung had opposed the impeachment of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol while serving as party leader — the lawmaker said: "She made false statements about the president, then offered contradictory excuses, and rather than apologizing she went on the attack against party leader Kim Min-seok. It will be very difficult to work with her."

A different freshman lawmaker took a more cautious line, saying that "expulsion or heavy discipline are not the only ways to restore order," and that the party should "weigh internal opinion and the wishes of members comprehensively to find a smart solution."

Party leader Kim Min-seok had ordered the party's ethics inspection unit to investigate Choi after her remarks about President Lee became public. On Sunday he directed that the unit's findings be referred to the ethics tribunal.

Allies of Choi — known as the pro-Chung faction, after Jung Chung-rae — pushed back against the referral, which is widely seen as a step toward formal discipline. They focused attention on an episode from the party convention last August, when Kim raised allegations of mass membership by the Shincheonji religious group and found himself on the defensive.

Supreme Council member Han Min-su, a pro-Chung ally, wrote on Facebook that a disciplinary petition against Kim had already been filed with the ethics tribunal, accusing him of "splitting the party with false claims about a secret three-way alliance of anti-Lee, splinter and Shincheonji factions." Han argued that "both cases must be handled fairly."

Choi posted on Facebook Sunday apologizing to President Lee for "causing trouble with a confused and mistaken statement," but insisted that "the Shincheonji secret alliance controversy and my mistake are separate matters," and called for a full investigation and accountability on that issue.


husn7@heraldcorp.com