Lee Jun-seok, leader of the Reform Party, strongly objected Friday after People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok signaled possible disciplinary action against party lawmakers, including Rep. Kim Jae-sub.
In a Facebook post that day, Lee said, "The People Power Party has an ethics committee that it pulls out whenever it needs to cut down someone it doesn't like." He noted, "If what the ethics committee deals with is injustice, then there is more of it piled up within that party than can be counted on one's fingers." He added, "But where the blade always points is not at injustice, but at those said to have been less loyal."
Regarding Jang's suggestion of disciplinary action against Kim, Lee said, "Through my long association with Rep. Kim, I have not once felt that he acted unjustly," adding, "In politics, the only loyalty needed is the pledge of allegiance to the flag."
Earlier, Jang appeared on a YouTube channel on the 26th and mentioned Kim along with People Power Party Reps. Kim Yong-tae and Woo Jae-jun and the group Alternative and Future, saying, "When we need to fight the enemy fiercely, they hide behind, but when it comes to attacking the leadership within the party, they come out first and raise their voices the loudest." He continued, "Necessary measures must be taken against lawmakers who continuously engage in conduct harmful to the party," and said, "Setting the party's discipline straight is the proper form of a political party and the path to rebuilding conservatism."
In response, Rep. Kim Jae-sub hit back, saying, "If the fight that led the Seoul mayoral election to victory as the head of the election committee was an act of shaking the Jang Dong-hyeok leadership, I will gladly accept disciplinary action." He added, "Leader Jang, begin disciplinary proceedings against me right now. I will await the party's decision."
Meanwhile, Lee left the People Power Party and founded the Reform Party after receiving an 18-month suspension of party membership from the party's ethics committee in July 2022, when he was the party's leader.
