Interim findings of PPP audit

[Anchor]

The People Power Party has announced the results of an interim investigation regarding the replacement of its presidential candidate.

It stated that the allegations of providing budget support to independent candidate Han Duck-soo are not true.

However, it has not yet verified the meeting records where the decision to replace the candidate was made.

Reporter Lee Yoo-min has the details.

[Report]

The attempts to unify candidates Kim Moon-soo and Han Duck-soo continued to be chaotic right up until the deadline for presidential candidate registration.

The Party's Audit Committee, which is investigating the situation, has released interim findings after two weeks.

First, it confirmed that no money was spent by the party on independent candidate Han Duck-soo.

Since it was uncertain who would become the candidate, the party only assisted in reserving a filming studio for Han Duck-soo and confirmed that the allegations of pre-producing campaign uniforms with the name 'Han Duck-soo' were also false.

However, they have not been able to verify the minutes of the emergency committee meeting held on the day the candidate replacement was decided.

[Yoo Il-jun/Chairman of the Party's Audit Committee: "We requested the materials, but they expressed some reluctance, and we have not received them yet."]

The Audit Committee plans to investigate the decision-makers at that time, lawmakers Kwon Young-se and Kwon Seong-dong, after confirming the meeting minutes.

In the meantime, the People Power Party has begun the process of forming a new emergency committee following the expiration of Chairman Kim Yong-tae's term on the 30th.

They plan to appoint a new emergency committee chair at the national committee meeting on the 1st of next month, with the possibility of Song Eon-seok, the floor leader, concurrently serving as the emergency committee chair while preparing for the party convention being discussed as a strong option.

[Song Eon-seok/Floor Leader of the People Power Party: "It is not easy to find someone who can serve as the emergency committee chair for about two months... We will consider everything comprehensively and make a decision."]

The party convention is expected to be held around mid-August.

As a collective leadership system where the party leader and the supreme committee members share power is being discussed, there are objections from pro-establishment members who argue that this is an attempt to weaken the power of the next party leader, suggesting that there will be ongoing discord.

This is KBS News, Lee Yoo-min.