"Extremely Embarrassed" Ruling Party in Turmoil... "Responsibility of Party Leadership" Inevitable (Comprehensive)

Joo Ho-young "Gathering Party Opinions to Prepare Response Measures"... Emergency Party Meeting on the Afternoon of the 27th
Ruling Party "Will Decide Soon Whether to Appeal the Injunction Decision"
Ha Tae-kyung "Party Leadership Must Take Responsibility for the Crisis"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Ji-eun and Geum Bo-ryeong] The internal situation of the People Power Party was thrown into turmoil as the court partially accepted former party leader Lee Jun-seok's injunction request and on the 26th decided to suspend the duties of emergency committee chairman Joo Ho-young. Chairman Joo expressed his feelings, saying, "I am very perplexed," and the People Power Party announced that it would soon decide whether to file an objection. However, voices are also emerging that the leadership should take responsibility, accepting the court's criticism that this incident violated party democracy.

Chairman Joo said regarding the court's decision, "It is a violation of the constitutional spirit of party autonomy for the judiciary to deny and regulate internal party decisions," and added, "I cannot accept today's injunction decision that the People Power Party is not in an emergency situation."

He stated, "It is right for the party itself to judge whether there is an emergency situation," and "We will gather opinions within the party and prepare a response plan."

Park Hyung-soo, the party's floor spokesperson, also said, "The injunction acceptance decision by the Seoul Southern District Court is an excessive infringement on the party's autonomous decision-making," and "The People Power Party will decide whether to file an objection to the court's injunction decision after a legal review as soon as possible."

Spokesperson Park emphasized, "All procedures were conducted according to the party constitution and regulations, and the emergency committee was approved by an overwhelming majority of party members at the consecutively held Standing National Committee and National Committee meetings," and "Today's court decision denies the will of the People Power Party members and is an excessive intervention in internal party matters."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the other hand, former leader Lee's legal team stated, "We respect the court's ruling," and expressed the opinion that "This decision is a historic ruling by the judiciary against the constitutional destruction act that violated party democracy."

Within the party, there are also voices suggesting healing procedural defects through other methods. Jang Ye-chan, director of the Youth Foundation, said on his social network service (SNS), "The core of the court ruling seems to be that the 'emergency situation regulation' in the party constitution is not clear, so approving the emergency committee chairman based on an emergency situation is a procedural violation," and "It can be resolved by including the 'emergency situation regulation' in the party constitution through convening the Standing National Committee and approval by the National Committee."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

However, since the court pointed out the violation of party democracy within the ruling party, the issue of leadership responsibility is also unlikely to be avoided. Ha Tae-kyung, a People Power Party lawmaker, said, "It is a very sad and painful day," and added, "The party leadership, which refused a political solution to the current crisis, must take responsibility for this catastrophe."

The People Power Party, which had sought unity and an opportunity to reverse the crisis through a retreat attended by President Yoon Seok-yeol on the 25th and 26th, is expected to return to the 'Kwon Seong-dong acting duties' system due to this ruling. The People Power Party will hold an emergency meeting of lawmakers at 4 p.m. on the 27th in the National Assembly main building to discuss future response measures.

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