(LEAD) Ex-ruling party chief files another lawsuit against leadership switch

All News 14:20 August 18, 2022

(ATTN: UPDATES with ex-ruling party chief filing another lawsuit in first 4 paras; CHANGES headline; TRIMS)

SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Yonhap) -- The former chair of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), Lee Jun-seok, has filed another lawsuit against the party's leadership transition, escalating his legal fight against the PPP, according to legal sources on Thursday.

Lee filed the lawsuit with the Seoul Southern District Court, asking the court to nullify the validity of the party's emergency committee, on Tuesday, a day before the court held a hearing on his motion for an injunction against the PPP's leadership switch, the sources said.

The court has yet to issue a ruling on Lee's motion for the injunction, but the second legal action is likely to complicate the PPP's efforts to swiftly normalize its operation after the leadership switch that removed Lee from office,

Also on Thursday, Lee took another swipe at President Yoon Suk-yeol and his close aides over the leadership transition.

"The people were deceived and I was deceived," Lee Jun-seok said in an interview with KBS radio, saying he had hoped to mend ties with the president after the PPP won the presidential election in March and nationwide local elections in June under his chairmanship.

Emphasizing that he played a bigger role in the elections compared with lawmakers deemed to be Yoon's core associates, Lee again cried foul against the leadership switch he claims was led by Yoon and his confidants.

The remark is the latest phase in Lee's attempt to regain his status. The former chairman, who has often been at odds with pro-Yoon lawmakers, was officially removed from office after the PPP endorsed members of its emergency leadership committee, completing the leadership transition.