Reform Party's Lee Jun-seok Seeks 'Expulsion from Congress' Petition Exceeds 500,000 Signatures
A National Assembly petition requesting the expulsion of Reform Party's Lee Jun-seok, who sparked controversy with his 'chopsticks hate speech' during the presidential TV debate, has surpassed 500,000 signatures.
According to the National Assembly's petition board on the 10th, at 1:44 PM, the petition regarding 'the expulsion of Lee Jun-seok from Congress' reached over 500,000 signatures.
This comes just six days after the petition was posted on the 4th, making it the second-highest number of signatures following last year's national petition (143,478 signatures) requesting the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who declared a 'state of emergency.'
Earlier, on the 27th of last month, during the live broadcast of the 3rd candidate TV debate for the 21st presidential election, Lee used inappropriate metaphors regarding women's bodies while attacking Democratic Labor Party candidate Kwon Young-guk.
Petitioner A stated, "Lee Jun-seok committed linguistic sexual violence by describing violence against women’s bodies in an attempt to attack his opponent during the 3rd candidate debate for the 21st presidential election, which was being watched by all citizen voters." They demanded his expulsion from Congress.
Meanwhile, expulsion of a member of the National Assembly requires the approval of two-thirds or more of the seated members.
To date, there has been no case where a petition has led to an actual expulsion, but given that this petition has quickly surpassed 500,000 signatures, attention is focused on how the political sphere and the National Assembly will respond.
Image source: National Assembly Electronic Petition, Reform Party's Lee Jun-seok / News1
