Rep. Seo Beom-soo of the People Power Party, whose party membership rights were suspended over remarks about a notorious assault case, filed for an injunction and a separate lawsuit in court on the 16th.
At a news conference at the National Assembly, Seo said he had withdrawn his request for a retrial that morning and filed for an injunction with the Seoul Southern District Court to suspend the disciplinary action.
Seo received a 10-month suspension of party membership rights after telling fellow People Power Party lawmaker Jin Jong-oh to "try a roundhouse kick" at a meeting last month attended by the victim of a roundhouse kick assault in Busan. "I am not standing here today to avoid responsibility for my remarks," Seo said. "I concluded that the central ethics committee's decision to put off a ruling on the retrial was stalling for time."
He said it was inappropriate for the ethics committee to press ahead with discipline even though the victim had appealed for leniency. "Pushing through a disciplinary action for political purposes when the victim has personally said she does not want it — that is what puts the victim through hardship all over again," he said.
He also called the disciplinary process abnormal, arguing that the committee did not disclose which members took part in the deliberation, leaving him unable to exercise his right to request their recusal. "For a number of remarks and actions within the party during the same period — hardly minor ones, and in cases that drew far greater public criticism — no meaningful disciplinary process has even begun," he said.
On the severity of the penalty, he said it was "excessively heavy even compared with the past." Seo said, "In similar cases of misstatements and gaffes in our party in the past, the offenders did not even receive an apology from those harmed and instead faced demands for severe punishment, yet I have been given a far heavier penalty. I cannot possibly accept that a much heavier penalty was handed down even though the victim came forward herself to plead for leniency."
He added, "Because of this disciplinary action, my duties as chair of the party's Ulsan city chapter, a post I took up last month, have been suspended, and I am now at risk of losing even the Ulsan Ulju district chapter chairmanship I have held for nearly seven years. Even if the court rules in my favor later on, the positions lost in the meantime, the roles that came with them and the time itself can never be recovered."
He said, "I cannot help asking whether this disciplinary action is aimed not at holding me properly accountable for a misstatement, but at weeding out those who voice views different from the party leadership."
Seo said he had also filed a main lawsuit seeking confirmation that the disciplinary action is void, alongside the injunction request. "I want to see the principle that discipline must not be abused as a means of removing political opponents set right, even if it takes a court ruling to do so," he added.
