Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Main opposition expels controversial candidate
Cha Myung-jin, main opposition United Future Party's candidate for Bucheon-C constituency in Gyeonggi Province, speaks during a campaign stop in the district, Friday. His party decided to expel him, Monday, for continuous inappropriate remarks. Yonhap
By Kim Rahn
By Kim Rahn
A banner of United Future Party candidate Cha Myung-jin, center, and those of Democratic Party of Korea candidate Kim Sang-hee / Captured from Cha's Facebook
The main opposition United Future Party (UFP) expelled Cha Myung-jin, one of its candidates, Monday, over his continuous inappropriate remarks.
The expulsion was a reversal of its previous decision to recommend his voluntarily leaving from the party for the candidate running in the Bucheon-C district of Gyeonggi Province after a previous controversy. Following the expulsion, Cha was deprived of his candidacy for the general election, according to the Election Law.
Early last week, he caused a stir in a televised debate by claiming bereaved family members of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster victims engaged in “promiscuous conduct” with a volunteer in a tent set up at the memorial space on Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. He mentioned that it was a “threesome.”
Despite strong criticism from the public and even from party members, the UFP’s ethics committee did not expel him but recommended he leave the party voluntarily. But he refused the recommendation, and he continued to make inappropriate remarks.
Posting a photo of his campaign banner on a street hung between two banners of his rival Rep. Kim Sang-hee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), he wrote on Facebook, Saturday, “You said a threesome is inappropriate. What is this situation that you lead a threesome? I told you I don’t like threesomes!”
Kim issued a statement, Sunday, to say she would file a complaint against Cha for defamation and sexual harassment.
Then the UFP leadership held an emergency meeting, Monday, and decided on Cha’s expulsion.
The decision came as the party viewed the controversy surrounding Cha has caused stronger negative public sentiment toward the party than it initially expected.
It said, according to the party rules, it is possible for the party leadership to expel a candidate without the ethics committee’s review.
“It is true that we’ve lost support among young and centrist voters due to the case, according to an opinion poll last week. Many other UFP candidates also have asked the party leadership to expel him, saying his stay in the party would become a huge unfavorable factor in the election,” said Park Hyeong-jun, co-head of the UFP’s campaign committee