NAT'L COMMITTEE TO BE CONVENED

[Anchor Lead]

The ruling People Power Party which earlier concluded that the party is in a state of emergency has passed a motion to convene a national committee meeting to discuss whether to launch an interim leadership. Supreme Council member Bae Hyun-jin also took part in the motion though she had expressed intent to step down from the council. Currently suspended party chair Lee Jun-seok has strongly condemned the move.

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The ruling People Power Party held a closed-door Supreme Council meeting on Tuesday and decided to convene a gathering of the national committee. Following the decision, the party’s standing national committee will decide on whether the current state of the party requires a shift to an interim leadership after which the national committee will vote on the matter as early as Friday. The council session Tuesday also agreed that it’s necessary to clarify who has the right to appoint a new interim chief.

[Soundbite] Yang Kum-hee(Floor spokesperson, PPP) : "Party regulations need to be revised to enable the acting chair to appoint the interim leader."

The PPP is taking swift steps to switch to an emergency committee system but internal turmoil is also escalating over the procedural process. Four out of seven Supreme Council members attended today’s meeting which include two who earlier expressed their intent to resign, Bae Hyun-jin and Yoon Young-seok. For the reason, they said their resignation letters have yet to be processed.

[Soundbite] Bae Hyun-jin(People Power Party) : "Didn’t you resign? Following Monday’s conclusion on the state of emergency, floor leader has asked that time is necessary to process the takeover."

Meanwhile party chair Lee Jun-seok who is temporarily suspended from his post blasted those who already stepped down from the council for attending the meeting just to meet the voting quorum. He said their greed has no end. Meanwhile Supreme Council member Kim Yong-tae, a confidant of Lee Jun-seok, expressed disgust and criticized the latest move as “resignations only in disguise” and compared it to a tactic used by the opposition party when it railroaded bills aimed at depriving the prosecution’s investigative powers. Council member Chung Mi-kyung who also opposed dissolving the council and shifting to interim leadership neither attended Tuesday’s meeting.