“The Justice Party leadership is trying to cover up sexual violence among party cadres”… Ex-Youth Spokesperson Kang Min-jin exposed “I am the victim”

Kang Min-jin, a former youth justice party representative (pictured), who served as a youth spokesperson for the Justice Party, revealed on the 16th that she had been sexually assaulted by a Justice Party executive in November last year. Former leader Kang asserted that the party leadership tried to ignore it even after being informed of this fact. Controversy within the progressive camp is expected to grow as the situation of concealing sexual misconduct in the Justice Party following the Democratic Party is revealed.

Kang said on Facebook on the same day, “Last November, the chairperson of a metropolitan provincial party made physical contact with my thigh. He added, “I officially informed the president of the presidential election campaign committee, such as Yeo Young-guk, but the president came to the conclusion that ‘I will warn the chairperson, do not disclose this matter'”, he added.

Former CEO Kang also revealed the fact of the second assault. He said, “After the meeting, I was embarrassed by the constant calls and texts from the chairperson. “The party nominated him as a candidate for the June 1 local elections without ever asking my will,” he said.

In a Facebook post, he claimed that he had also been sexually assaulted by Mr. A, a member of the Youth Justice Party. Former CEO Kang said, “In March, when it was reported that I had ordered watchers to drive surrogate and deliver errands, Mr. A approached me saying he would help. I was pushed to the edge of a cliff, and Mr. A’s sexual assault was an act that pushed me over the cliff.”

In this regard, a Justice Party official said, “It is not true that the female representative said ‘do not speak’. It was suggested that we do not disclose it to the outside world.” Regarding Chairman Mo’s nomination for the June 1 local election, he said, “We dealt with it according to the regulations, but we plan to check again whether there was a problem in the nomination review process.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party voted to expel Rep. Park Wan-ju (3rd term, Cheonan-eul, Chungcheongnam-do), who is suspected of sexual misconduct. With Park’s expulsion, the Democratic Party’s number of seats rose to 167. The Democratic Party held a general assembly of members this morning and unanimously voted on the expulsion bill of Rep. Park. This is a follow-up to the party leadership’s decision to be expelled from the emergency response committee last week. “There were objections to some procedures, but we did not object to the final decision, so we can say that the expulsion itself was passed unanimously,” said Oh Young-hwan, floor spokesperson for the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party plans to take additional disciplinary action against Rep. Park within this week, including filing a complaint with the National Assembly’s Ethics Special Committee.

By Kang Seong-hwi, staff reporter yolo@donga.com