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| President Yoon Suk-yeol answers reporters' questions at the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan District, in this July 8, pool photo. Yonhap |
President Yoon Suk-yeol expressed regret Friday after the ruling People Power Party suspended the party membership of leader Lee Jun-seok over allegations of sexual bribery and a cover-up.
Lee's membership will be suspended for six months for causing damage to the party's reputation, the PPP ethics committee said after an hourslong meeting into the early morning. The decision was not based on a determination of whether Lee had received sexual favors, which is under a separate investigation by the police.
"As a member of the People Power Party, I feel it is a shame," Yoon told reporters hours after the decision was announced.
"As I've always said, I don't think it's appropriate for the president to comment on party affairs. ... I look forward to our party members coming together to quickly overcome the difficult situation."
Lee told a local radio station he has no plans to step down from the chairmanship and will use his authority to handle the ethics committee's disciplinary decisions to place the action against him on hold.
The case centers on allegations Lee received sexual services paid for by a businessman seeking his influence in 2013 and attempted to cover up the wrongdoing earlier this year after the allegations surfaced.
The chairman has pleaded his innocence.
Yoon has been embroiled in separate controversies over the presidential office's hiring of one of his third cousins and the participation of a presidential secretary's wife in the planning of his visit to Spain last week.
When asked to comment, the president told reporters to refer to his spokesperson's earlier statements on the case of the aide's wife.
On the third cousin, he said, "He's a comrade who has campaigned hard together since the days of my presidential campaign and officially at the party headquarters."
On British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's resignation, Yoon said he got the impression he was "a very dynamic person" when the two met on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Madrid last week. (Yonhap)
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