Jia Han Participates in Jin-Sook Lee's Expulsion Vote: "I Abstained, but the Party Must Expel Her"

On August 26, Assemblywoman Han Jia of the People Power Party participated in the vote on the resolution to expel Assemblywoman Lee Jinsook during the National Assembly plenary session and abstained from voting. Assemblywoman Han stated, "While I supported the expulsion in my heart out of respect for the citizens of Daegu who voted for Assemblywoman Lee, I ultimately abstained." She added, "The May 18 forum held by Assemblywoman Lee was extremely inappropriate."

Yonhap News Agency

That afternoon at the National Assembly, Assemblywoman Han told reporters, "As stated in our party's constitution and regulations, I urge that we uphold the spirit of the May 18 Democratization Movement and expel Assemblywoman Lee." She continued, "Our party previously staged a group walkout to oppose the proposal to expel Assemblywoman Lee, but I and some others participated in the vote."

Earlier, despite opposition and attempts to dissuade her from within and outside the party, Assemblywoman Lee held a forum with right-wing organizations regarding the May 18 Democratization Movement on August 13. In response, the ruling Democratic Party and allied parties criticized this as "distorting history" and proceeded with the expulsion resolution at the plenary session. Assemblywoman Lee defended her position by citing "freedom of expression."

Regarding her participation in the vote, Assemblywoman Han explained, "The organization that co-hosted the forum with Assemblywoman Lee claims that Gwangju should be isolated externally and divided internally," adding, "Ultimately, this spreads hatred and significantly distorts the history of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, making it extremely inappropriate."

Assemblywoman Han went on to add, "The People Power Party upholds the spirit of the May 18 Democratization Movement to the extent that it is included in the party's constitution and regulations, and the party's ethics committee has imposed strong sanctions on those who have made statements against that spirit," and asserted, "Although I abstained, I believe our party should return to its principles and expel Assemblywoman Lee."

Meanwhile, the preamble to the current People Power Party constitution states, "We strive for national unity beyond conflict and division, and do not reject the past due to disputes between political factions. (Omitted) We carry on the spirit of modernization of our motherland and (omitted) the democratization movements of contemporary history, such as the May 18 Democratization Movement and the June 10 Democratic Uprising." In the past, the party has also imposed disciplinary measures such as the suspension of party membership on individuals who caused controversy with related remarks.

However, the People Power Party is not currently pursuing any separate disciplinary action regarding Assemblywoman Lee's remarks. The reason given is that Assemblywoman Lee only held an academic forum and did not explicitly state support for the comments made during the event. Chief spokesperson Park Chungkwon said the previous day, "(The expulsion resolution) is a political attack against Assemblywoman Lee."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.