By Park Ji-won
The Bareunmirae Party's Ethics Committee has recommended the party suspend the membership of Rep. Lee Un-ju for one year for her recent defamatory remarks made against Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu.
The conservative party's Supreme Council is expected to soon impose the punitive measure on Lee as recommended.
Lee may leave the party because the suspension means she cannot run in the general election in April next year as a Bareunmirae Party (BMP) candidate.
“…Even if I am bound and gagged, I will continue to do what I believe is good for the people.” Lee wrote on Facebook after the ethics committee's decision, Friday.
Lee openly criticized Sohn in a YouTube clip released March 20 over his campaign strategy for a by-election in Seongsan-gu in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.
“He is so stubborn that anyone talking to him may feel like they're talking to a wall,” she said. “He is acting like a loser.”
There have been rumors that Lee, an ardent critic of President Moon Jae-in, may defect to the larger conservative Liberty Korea Party.