6-MONTH SUSPENSION ON LEE JUN-SEOK

[Anchor Lead]

The ethics committee of the ruling People Power Party issued a six-month suspension of party membership for its leader Lee Jun-seok for suspected evidence tampering. Lee is accused of receiving sexual favors from a businessman. This is an unprecedented disciplinary action taken against a governing party leader. The ethics committee ruled that Lee had violated his duty to maintain dignity as a party member.

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The People Power Party ethics committee meeting went on for eight hours until early morning, Friday. The committee decided to take severe disciplinary action against its leader Lee Jun-seok. This is the first penalty imposed on the leader of a ruling bloc.

[Soundbite] Lee Yang-hee(Chair, PPP Ethics Committee) : "PPP Chair Lee Jun-seok, The PPP central ethics committee decided to suspend the party membership of the accused for six months."

The committee believes that Lee prompted his close associate and political affairs director Kim Chul-keun to destroy evidence of a criminal case against him. Lee showed up for the ethics committee meeting to claim his innocence and defended himself for nearly three hours. However, the committee concluded that Lee's explanation was hard to believe. Judging by the transcripts, phone conversations and media reports, Lee is believed to have been involved in Kim writing a 700-million-won investment memo to the informant who first brought up the sexual service allegation.

[Soundbite] Lee Yang-hee(Chair, PPP Ethics Committee) : "We believed that Lee's explanation was hard to believe. Therefore, we ruled that Lee had violated Article 4 of the Ethics Code on the duty to maintain dignity."

However, the ethics committee said that it did not rule on the allegation of sexual favors because it didn't warrant disciplinary review. Lee's contribution to the party and achievements were considered in determining the severity of disciplinary action, hinting that there were extenuating circumstances. Earlier in the meeting, the committee suspended the party membership of Lee's associate Kim Chul-keun for two years. The Democratic Party described the PPP ethics committee's decision as justice prevailing and called for Lee and the PPP to apologize to the people.