5-term lawmaker Joo Ho-young elected ruling party's new floor leader

A photo of ruling People Power Party's new floor leader Rep. Joo Ho-young / Yonhap

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Monday elected five-term lawmaker Joo Ho-young as its new floor leader.

Joo beat two-term lawmaker Lee Yong-ho with 61 out of 106 votes at a general meeting of PPP lawmakers.

Joo will serve as floor leader until April 2023.

His election came less than a month after a court suspended his duties as the PPP's emergency leadership committee chair on Aug. 26, a decision seen as a victory for former party Chairman Lee Jun-seok in a duel against mainstream PPP members close to President Yoon Suk-yeol.

The PPP has since launched a new emergency committee led by Vice National Assembly Speaker Chung Jin-suk.

The PPP, however, has yet to completely overcome the crisis, as Lee has filed another injunction suit against Chung's leadership. The Seoul Southern District Court is set to hold a hearing on the case later this month.

Joo is considered a moderate conservative politician less close with Yoon compared with former floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong. Kweon is considered one of the core members of the party faction close to Yoon, known as "Yoonhaekgwan" in Korean.

Yoonhaekgwan has been at the center of a row between the president and ousted PPP Chairman Lee. (Yonhap)