Han Byung-do, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, sharply criticized the opposition People Power Party, asking "how long it intends to leave the outrageous remarks and conduct of its own lawmakers unaddressed." His message was that party-level action is needed against PPP lawmakers Joo Jin-woo, Kim Tae-gyu and Lee Jin-sook, who have drawn controversy over recent inflammatory comments.
At a party supreme council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 14th, Han said: "Rep. Joo Jin-woo used an expression that crossed the line and appeared to imply the president's death, and he left his seat during a parliamentary audit of government agencies, saying he had to run a personal YouTube live broadcast." He added that Joo "has now even gone so far as to say he will introduce a so-called special counsel bill" over allegations that the president played golf while an accident response was under way — a controversy the opposition lawmaker has dubbed the "emperor golf" affair.
"It is already unreasonable enough to maliciously disparage the president's handling of an accident that followed proper procedure, but what member of the public could accept the argument that a special counsel probe should begin simply because he himself raised the allegations?" Han said. He charged that the approach reflected "a cowardly calculation to use an accident involving casualties as a tool of political strife, and to use the parliamentary audit and a special counsel probe as a personal political event."
Han said the PPP leadership also bears heavy responsibility for the background to the remarks he cited. "The repeated abusive language and erratic behavior, from Rep. Lee Jin-sook to Rep. Kim Tae-gyu and Rep. Joo Jin-woo, is largely the responsibility of the PPP leadership," he said. "If the party had even a minimum sense of responsibility as a public political party, its leadership should step forward first to correct this wrongful conduct and apologize before the public."
"The PPP leadership, however, is evading responsibility by calling these the activities of individual lawmakers, and is effectively condoning them," he said. "That is only to be expected, since the PPP has had its own party leader take the lead in encouraging hatred and abusive language, so is it any wonder its lawmakers follow suit?" He added: "At this point, this is not individual misconduct but a collective breakdown of discipline created by the PPP leadership's acquiescence."