After hearing the call sooner or later, the level will be decided
On the 25th, the Ethics Committee of the Central People’s Party initiated disciplinary procedures against Park Hee-young, the head of Yongsan-gu, Seoul (pictured), in connection with the Itaewon Halloween disaster.
Right after the meeting of the Ethics Committee held at the National Assembly headquarters that day, Lee Yang-hee, chairman of the Ethics Committee, said, “The disciplinary process was started to review whether the district park chief had violated the maintenance of dignity causing social controversy with inappropriate words and actions.”” he said. The Ethics Committee intends to decide whether to take disciplinary action and the level of disciplinary action after going through the process of explaining himself to the Ethics Committee by Mayor Park in the near future.As an elected official, Mayor Park’s election will not be revoked even if the party’s ethics committee imposes a severe penalty, such as expulsion, unless he voluntarily resigns.
Chairman Lee explained that he did not consider whether there was a problem with the job in the process of responding to the disaster by Mayor Park. Previously, right after the Itaewon disaster, Mayor Park said, “Halloween is not a festival, but a phenomenon,” and controversy arose over suspicions of false explanations about the location on the day of the disaster.
On the same day, the Ethics Committee said, “There is absolutely no such agenda” on whether to review additional disciplinary action against former CEO Lee Jun-seok. Stop immediately,” he dismissed.
The Ethics Committee did not accept the request for a retrial by Kim Cheol-geun, the former head of the political affairs office, on the same day. Former chief Kim, who is a close aide to Lee, was implicated in the alleged destruction of evidence of sexual favors and was punished with a two-year suspension from party membership, but was acquitted by the police. Chairman Lee explained, “The reason for the decision not to send the police was rejected because it had nothing to do with the reason for the People Power Ethics Committee’s disciplinary action.”
Reporter Kang Kyung-seok coolup@donga.com
