Hong Jun-pyo: "Kim Seong-tae and Yeom Dong-ryeol's '3-month party membership suspension' is like stabbing a corpse"

"Two Victims of Political Retaliation Investigation
Instead, Nonsense Decision to Suspend Party Membership
Not in Accordance with Political Duty"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] Hong Joon-pyo, Mayor of Daegu, criticized the disciplinary actions taken by the People Power Party's Central Ethics Committee against former lawmakers Kim Seong-tae and Yeom Dong-ryeol, calling it "a cruel act of stabbing a corpse" and "a case of putting the cart before the horse and being brazen."

On the 19th, Mayor Hong posted on his Facebook, stating, "I cannot help but laugh when I see the decision to suspend the party membership of the two former lawmakers, Kim Seong-tae and Yeom Dong-ryeol, for three months."

He pointed out, "Originally, once the Supreme Court's ruling is finalized, party membership is lost during the imprisonment or probation period according to the Political Parties Act, so unfortunately, these two individuals are no longer members of the People Power Party during that time. However, it is clearly a strange decision for the Ethics Committee to impose a suspension of party membership on two people who are not even party members."

He continued, "Former lawmaker Kim Seong-tae, in the early days of the Moon Jae-in administration, risked his life with a 10-day open-air hunger strike to secure the special prosecutor for the 'Druking' scandal, which sent former Gyeongnam Governor Kim Kyung-soo to prison. In retaliation, an unprecedented case of preferential hiring of his daughter by KT was fabricated, overturning the first trial's acquittal to a guilty verdict in the appellate court, making him a representative victim of opposition party suppression."

He also said, "Former lawmaker Yeom Dong-ryeol was indicted along with Floor Leader Kwon Seong-dong in a similar Kangwon Land employee hiring case. While Representative Kwon was acquitted, former lawmaker Yeom was sentenced guilty due to poor legal response and is currently imprisoned at Yeongwol Correctional Institution."

Mayor Hong criticized, "Despite these two being victims of politically motivated investigations, and despite it being the duty of party members to grant pardons during the August 15th general amnesty if the political climate has changed, making a nonsensical decision to suspend their party membership is against political ethics."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.