LKP to expel ex-President Park
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party’s (LKP) reform panel recommended Wednesday that the party ask corruption-tainted former President Park Geun-hye and two of her close allies to leave it as part of a personnel reshuffle aimed at regaining public support.
The panel made the decision after weeks of intense debate that laid bare a deep fissure between the reformists and those still sympathetic to Park who is currently on trial over the massive corruption scandal that led to her ouster in March.
The departure recommendations for Park and Reps. Suh Chung-won and Choi Kyung-hwan came as the party has been seeking to unite the country’s conservatives to carve out a stronger presence.
“We have to recommend Park leave the party voluntarily to take political responsibility for (a range of issues) including the failed candidate nomination for parliamentary elections in April 2016 and the defeat in the presidential vote in May,” Lew Seok-choon, the panel’s chief, told reporters.