Rep. Yoo Sang-beom: "'Lee Jun-seok's Expulsion' Text Unrelated to Ethics Committee Opinion"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] On the 19th, Yoo Sang-beom, a member of the People Power Party, dismissed the growing controversy over the text messages exchanged with Emergency Response Committee Chairman Jeong Jin-seok regarding the disciplinary actions against former leader Lee Jun-seok as "personal opinions."

On the afternoon of the same day, Representative Yoo wrote on Facebook, "This is a conversation I had with Representative Jeong Jin-seok on the day former leader Lee Jun-seok held a press conference on the 13th," adding, "It was merely my personal opinion expressed in principle."

Yoo emphasized, "At that time, the party's Ethics Committee had not yet decided on additional disciplinary measures against former leader Lee Jun-seok, so my opinion was completely unrelated to the overall stance of the Ethics Committee. I also clarify that this was not a pre-discussed matter." He then apologized, saying, "It was inappropriate to express my personal opinion as an ethics committee member to another lawmaker."

Earlier that morning, during the party members' meeting held to elect the new floor leader of the People Power Party, the phone screen showing messages exchanged between Chairman Jeong and Representative Yoo was captured by reporters.

In the messages, Chairman Jeong said, "Okay, among the severe disciplinary actions, we should at least issue a warning for the relevant behavior," to which Representative Yoo replied, "If the sexual bribery part is prosecuted, we should expel him together."

In response, former leader Lee shared an article containing the photo on Facebook and criticized, "The ethics committee member and the emergency committee chairman are predicting the police investigation results and discussing and ordering disciplinary actions."

Chairman Jeong then rebutted, saying, "These are text messages exchanged with Representative Yoo on the night of August 13," adding, "As you know, August 13 was the day when former leader Lee Jun-seok unleashed unspeakable abusive language toward the party and its members."

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