People Power Party Scraps Ethics Meeting as Jeong Jin-seok Nomination Dispute Grows

The People Power Party is facing widening internal conflict over former National Assembly Deputy Speaker Jeong Jin-seok’s application to seek the party’s nomination in the Chungnam Gongju-Buyeo-Cheongyang by-election.

The party’s ethics committee had planned to meet on May 2 to discuss Jeong’s request to rejoin the party, but abruptly canceled the session.

Jeong applied for the nomination and also filed to be reinstated. The committee had been expected to review whether to grant an exception allowing a candidate under indictment to run.

The committee has previously granted exceptions in similar cases even when candidates were under investigation or indicted, including Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Daegu mayoral candidate Choo Kyung-ho. That history fueled expectations that Jeong, who is being investigated over allegations of destroying evidence tied to the presidential office in connection with the “martial law incident,” could receive the same treatment.

With the meeting canceled, party officials and observers said the nomination process has become more uncertain.

Opposition inside the party also surfaced publicly. Kim Tae-heum, a candidate for South Chungcheong governor, issued a statement suggesting he could leave the party if Jeong is nominated.

“Have we forgotten where we are after the miserable and bleak 1 year and 6 months since the Dec. 3 martial law?” Kim said, urging the leadership to listen to public sentiment. “If they act against the public conscience without restraint and reflection, I will have no choice but to leave.”

Rep. Cho Eun-hee also called for reconsideration on social media, saying a nomination tied to “Yoon Again” would be like “setting fire again to a house where the lights have gone out.” She said that if the public turns away from the party at a time when it is fighting what she called the Lee Jae-myung administration’s “self-clearing” special counsel probe, “even the momentum to fight will disappear.”

Jeong, however, questioned the procedural handling. “We agreed to proceed with the nomination committee process after the ethics committee’s decision, but the meeting didn’t happen, so it’s hard to accept,” he said. “They should at least give a chance for a primary.”



* This article has been translated by AI.

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