The People Power Party's Central Ethics Committee has revoked its original decision to suspend Rep. Kwon Young-jin's party membership rights for 18 months, lowering the penalty to a one-year suspension.
The ethics committee held its 21st meeting on the 30th and said it "accepted that the petitioner's explanation and request for reconsideration had merit in deliberating and deciding on Rep. Kwon's appeal." With the suspension period shortened, Kwon is now expected to be eligible to apply for party nomination in next year's general election.
Kwon faced an ethics committee review after a physical altercation in July in which he grabbed the collar of People Power Party floor leader Chung Jom-sig while protesting his assignment to a National Assembly standing committee for the latter half of the term. The ethics committee had imposed the 18-month suspension, saying that "the use of physical force was conduct unbecoming of a National Assembly member and damaged the party's honor and standing."
Kwon said on the same day that he accepted the ethics committee's decision, adding: "I want to say once again that I am deeply sorry for causing concern to the public and to my fellow party members through my own shortcomings." He continued, "I will now fulfill my proper duties as a National Assembly member in the regular parliamentary session and the parliamentary audit that lie ahead."
