▲ Kim Jae-won, a Supreme Council member of the ruling People Power Party, speaks to reporters after he attended a meeting of the ethics committee at the party's headquarters in Seoul on May 8, 2023. (Yonhap)
▲ Rep. Tae Yong-ho of the People Power Party speaks at the National Assembly in Seoul on May 10, 2023. (Yonhap)

(3rd LD) lawmaker-ethics committee

(3rd LD) PPP suspends party membership of Supreme Council member, lawmaker over controversial remarks

(ATTN: RECASTS headline,lead; UPDATES with committee's decision in paras 1-6)

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, May 10 (Yonhap) -- The ethics committee of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) decided Wednesday to suspend the party membership of two prominent members for making a series of controversial remarks.

The panel convened to determine disciplinary measures against Kim Jae-won, a Supreme Council member, and Rep. Tae Yong-ho, a North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker.

Kim and Tae received suspensions of one year and three months, respectively.

Kim's one-year suspension effectively bars him from seeking nomination for next year's parliamentary elections.

Tae received a relatively light penalty after he voluntarily resigned from the Supreme Council earlier in the day.

The ethics committee initiated the disciplinary proceedings on May 1.

Kim was referred to the committee for remarks seen as slighting victims of two historical events -- the bloody 1948-1954 suppression of a civil revolt on Jeju Island and the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju.

Tae was referred to the committee in part for displaying what critics say was a distorted history perception by insisting a civil uprising on the island of Jeju in the late 1940s was obviously triggered on the instruction of North Korea's late national founder, Kim Il-sung.

He has also been under criticism over a phone conversation he had with senior presidential political affairs secretary Lee Jin-bok, in which Lee allegedly asked Tae to make remarks in support of Korea-Japan relations while talking about the issue of party nominations for next year's general elections.

Tae talked about Lee's alleged request during a meeting with his aides, and a local media outlet revealed the transcript of Tae's remarks recorded by one of the aides. Tae has since denied Lee made such a request, saying he made an exaggeration of what was said during the call with Lee.

He also came under fire after branding the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) as "JMS DP," referring to JMS, a controversial religious group embroiled in a series of sexual harassment cases involving its leader. Tae said J stands for junk, M for money and S for sex.

Tae, Pyongyang's former deputy ambassador to Britain, defected to South Korea in 2016 and was elected as a lawmaker here in 2020, becoming the first North Korean defector to do so.

He resigned from the Supreme Council early on Wednesday.

"I don't want to put a burden on the party anymore," Tae said in an emergency press conference. "I am going to resign from the Supreme Council position today. I am fully responsible for all the controversies so far."

Tae also pledged to work for the success of the government of President Yoon Suk Yeol as it marks the first anniversary in office. He added there were no prior discussions with the presidential office about his decision.

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