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| Main opposition Democratic Party of Korea Chairman Lee Jae-myung at the National Assembly in western Seoul, March 22. Yonhap |
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) will hold a party affairs committee meeting Wednesday to decide whether to exempt party leader Lee Jae-myung from the suspension of his membership by recognizing the prosecution's indictment as political retaliation, officials said.
The DPK held an emergency Supreme Council meeting and decided to hold a party affairs committee meeting at 5 p.m. to discuss the matter, according to DPK spokesperson An Ho-young.
The committee will decide whether it will apply Article 80 of the party charter, which mandates the suspension of one's membership for those indicted on corruption charges, to Lee.
The DPK revised the article last year to allow the party to cancel a suspension if it determines the indictment is politically motivated, despite some of its members' criticism it is intended to prevent Lee from losing his chairmanship.
Earlier Wednesday, Lee was indicted on development corruption and bribery charges arising from his term as mayor of Seongnam, south of Seoul, years ago.
The DPK's party affairs committee will also discuss whether to apply the charter to Reps. Ki Dong-min and Lee Soo-jin, who were indicted on charges of receiving illicit political funds.
"The Supreme Council acknowledged there were unfair reasons, such as political suppression, with these three people's cases, and decided to put the authoritative interpretation of Article 80 of the party charter on the agenda at the party affairs committee meeting," the DPK spokesperson said.
"We denounce the prosecution's atrocious and unfair indictment intended to eliminate the opposition leader." (Yonhap)
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