As two members of the People Power Party's Central Ethics Committee resigned within a week, Woo Jong-hwan, deputy chair of the committee, publicly called on Committee Chairman Yoon Min-woo to "publicly apologize for announcing 'loyalty-pledge' disciplinary standards against criticism of the party leader."
Woo made the remarks on the 27th through a statement issued in the names of himself and Ethics Committee member Hwang Kyung-sung, demanding a correction to the People Power Party Central Ethics Committee press release issued immediately after the meeting on the 22nd of this month.
Earlier, Yoon announced the results of the meeting on the 22nd, stating that "it was made clear that simple critical remarks against the party leader or the party are, in principle, not subject to discipline," while adding, "However, it was decided that exceptions will be made when acts are judged to seriously undermine the normal operation of the party leader or the party in an excessively intentional, repetitive, organized, and sustained manner."
In response, Woo strongly criticized this, saying it is "highly subjective, which lowers acceptability among those subject to discipline," and that "it is no different from declaring that the People Power Party is a dictatorial party."
In the statement that day, Woo also said, "Chairman Yoon's autocratic management style led to the failure of disciplinary action against Bae Hyun-jin and Kim Jong-hyuk in the first half of the year," adding, "He has once again created this uproar by distributing a loyalty-pledge press release to guard the sensibilities of party leader Jang Dong-hyuk."
He continued, "A loyalty pledge stating that organized, repeated criticism of the party leader will be disciplined should be made privately in a meeting with the party leader," directly criticizing, "Doing it publicly amounts to killing the party leader."
Woo also demanded of Ethics Committee member Jung Kyung-wook, who appeared on a YouTube broadcast suggesting that some ethics committee members who took issue with the press release were affiliated with the pro-Han faction and were connected to those subject to discipline, that he "make a public apology for the false slander and choose between his party post or the ethics committee." Jung, who was additionally appointed by People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk on the 9th of this month, serves as the People Power Party's media spokesperson.
He stressed, "The ethics committee chairman's 'loyalty-pledge disciplinary standards' for guarding sensibilities, and member Jung's political maneuvering that employs the vicious 'framing tactics' learned from the pro-Han faction, are pressing on the party leader's neck and driving the Central Ethics Committee to catastrophe," adding, "I will not stand by and watch the independent Central Ethics Committee being used as a personal political ladder."
Woo then proposed four disciplinary standards: △election law cases △criminal law cases △cases affecting the party's approval ratings and the next general election △cases that directly attack ethics committee members.
Meanwhile, the successive resignations of ethics committee members and internal conflict are expected to make normal operation of the Central Ethics Committee difficult. This is because, with two seats vacant, forcing through the passage of disciplinary measures would inevitably spark controversy over procedural legitimacy.
According to the People Power Party's regulations, the Central Ethics Committee can be convened "when the party leader or the committee chairman deems it necessary" or "when more than one-third of its members request it," and decisions are made with the attendance of a majority of members and the approval of a majority of those present.
The Central Ethics Committee was scheduled to hold a closed-door meeting that afternoon to review some 60 disciplinary cases received before and after the June 3 local elections. Woo had reportedly expressed his intention not to attend the meeting, but he was said to have claimed that he had not been notified of the meeting schedule itself.
The People Power Party plans to proceed with additional appointments to fill the vacant ethics committee seats. Senior spokesperson Park Sung-hoon met with reporters after the Supreme Council meeting that day and said, "I understand that leader Jang is discussing the additional appointments."
