Ruling party's odd man out

Lee Jun-seok, in the background, second from right, chairman of the ruling People Power Party, is seen behind President Yoon Suk-yeol at Seoul Airport, Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province on Friday. Yonhap

Once seen as poster boy for new PPP, Lee Jun-seok now faces critical juncture in political career amid sex scandal

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Around this time last year, Lee Jun-seok, who was then the newly elected leader of the People Power Party (PPP), had been at the peak of his career since he had entered politics in 2011. What he did and said made the nation's news headlines. The media frenzy about him is owed partly to the unprecedented record he set in Korean politics: Lee, who was then 36, is the first Korean politician who became a leader of a major party in his thirties. He took the PPP's leadership competition by storm, defeating several veteran politicians, such as Na Kyung-won and Joo Ho-young, with a comfortable margin. At the time, he was lauded as an icon of a new-era politician.

One year later, Lee, now 37, still the chairman of the ruling PPP, is in a situation very different from the one he faced a year ago. He is the odd man out. He's still a newsmaker, but not in a positive sense. He is embroiled in a sex scandal and currently at the center of the public's attention because of his doomed fate as a politician. Some even say that his days in politics are numbered.

Members of the ruling PPP's ethics committee are scheduled to meet on July 7 to deliberate on the allegations Lee is facing: he is accused of having received sexual services as a bribe, twice, in return for a favor from a now jailed businessman, Kim Sung-jin, the founder and president of startup I-KAIST. Lee is also accused of having used his influence to destroy the evidence. If these allegations are determined to be true, Lee's political career will be cut short. His image as a young, innovative leader will be tarnished as well.

Lee publicly denied the allegations several times, both on social media and in media interviews.

The police are investigating the allegations about Lee, and the investigators quizzed the jailed accuser, Kim, on Friday at the Seoul detention center. The police noted that Kim is a witness, not a suspect.

After the questioning, Kim's lawyer, Kim So-yeon, told reporters that her client confirmed the allegations about Lee, saying that they are all true. "My client said he arranged sexual services for Lee twice, both in 2013, and had also wined and dined him at other entertaining events 18 times in total until 2016," the lawyer said.

In return for Kim wining and dining Lee, the lawyer said that Lee promised that he would contact two people ― one a lawmaker and the other a businessman ― who were close to then-President Park Geun-hye, to arrange a meeting for Kim with the president. The names of the two people have not been made public.

Lee denied Kim's claims. In a social media post, he said that what Kim had said was inaccurate. "I told him that I had no opportunity to meet or communicate with President Park since 2012," he wrote. "I'd like to know who the lawmaker and the businessman he was talking about are, though."

The police investigation and its findings hold the key to the fate of Lee's political career.

Recent developments seem not to be positive for Lee. In June, there was a media report about Lee's botched request to have dinner with President Yoon Suk-yeol. According to the report, Lee was said to have asked President Yoon to find time for a dinner with him to discuss certain issues. Yoon rejected the request.

Lee Jun-seok. center, the chairman of the ruling People Power Party, looks at Yeong-il-man Bay (not seen in this photo) in the southeastern coastal city of Pohang, during a visit to North Gyeongsang Province, Wednesday. Lee Cheol-woo, left, the governor of North Gyeongsang Province, and Rep. Kim Byung-wook of the PPP joined Lee. Yonhap

Lee revealed his unpleasant feelings about the news report, saying that there seems to be a group of people who intentionally leak information to discredit him.

There are signs of possible discord between President Yoon and the ruling party leader as the president is reportedly feeling pressure from Lee and trying to distance himself to avoid any fallout. The recent resignation of Lee's chief of staff, who had played a bridge role between the president and Lee, is described as another negative sign for Lee.

On Thursday, Rep. Park Seong-min of the PPP sent a short text message to National Assembly correspondents. He wrote he would step down as Lee's chief of staff for unspecified personal reasons.

His resignation sparked speculations that Lee's fate might be doomed. Rep. Park began working as the chief of staff for Lee since March at the request of then-President-elect Yoon. Since then, Park had served as a mediator between Yoon and Lee as there are a lot of issues the two leaders had to consult each other on as the head of state and the ruling party leader, respectively. As the man who is known to be close to President Yoon has resigned, some politicians speculated that Park's resignation might indicate that Yoon has no intentions of helping Lee.

The alleged sex scandal facing Lee is not the only problem he is facing inside the ruling party. Under his leadership, the PPP won first the March 9 presidential election and then the June 1 local elections. But few credited Lee's leadership as a critical factor behind the PPP's winning streak in the elections. In fact, some say the opposite is true.

After Yoon won the presidential election with a razor-thin margin of 0.7 percent over his rival, Lee Jae-myung, of the Democratic Party of Korea, some lawmakers were simmering with resentment. They claimed that Yoon could have won the election comfortably, if it had not been for Lee. The ruling party chairman was described by his opponents as an obstacle for Yoon in the presidential election, as opposed to a facilitator of his win, partly because of his questionable stance on the unified candidacy between Yoon and Ahn Cheol-soo. Ahn quit the race to support Yoon at the last minute. Lee had been critical of Ahn all throughout the presidential election and had even said that the PPP didn't need a unified candidate, as Yoon was bound to win the election.

Political commentators agree that Yoon's last-minute negotiations with Ahn successfully securing the unified candidacy and preventing a split vote were a decisive factor behind Yoon's victory, especially in such a close race.

President Yoon Suk-yeol shakes hands with Lee Jun-seok, chairman of the ruling People Power Party, at Seoul Airport, Friday, after Yoon arrived in Korea from his five-day trip to Spain. Yonhap