Suspended PPP member Cho Kyoung-tae visits the tomb of former President Roh Moo-hyun
Cho Kyoung-tae, a lawmaker of the People Power Party (PPP), visited the tomb of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun in Bongha Village, Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, on Monday. According to his office, the visit—made while Cho is under a suspension of party membership, a heavy disciplinary measure that halts his party status for a set period—reflected his intention to offer an apology on behalf of politicians. In a press release issued the same day, Cho said he came "with a sense of shame and apology, to say sorry on behalf of the realities of Korean politics." The previous day, he wrote on social media that "policies can be evaluated, but a person's death must never be made the subject of political strife."
The visit was aimed at fellow PPP lawmaker Kim Tae-gyu, who said during the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit on Thursday that a 'Bongeowl Rock truth commission' should be created, referring to the rock from which former President Roh took his own life.
Cho has a record of crossing party lines. A six-term lawmaker, he was first elected in 2004 with the Uri Party, later served with the Democratic Party, and eventually moved to the PPP. In August, he received a heavy disciplinary penalty of a two-and-a-half-year suspension of his party membership from the PPP's ethics committee for his involvement in the process of electing the National Assembly vice speaker. As things stand, he cannot run in the 2028 general election as a PPP member.
In this regard, PPP senior spokesperson Park Chung-kwon told reporters at the National Assembly on Monday that "the party does not take a position on the activities of individual lawmakers one by one." Still, he reiterated that "Representative Cho is a lawmaker who received a heavy disciplinary penalty from the party's ethics committee" and "his party membership is currently suspended."
The visit was a solo move by Cho, made independently of the party's official position despite his heavy disciplinary penalty. With the party spokesperson declining to take a position on the visit itself while only reconfirming his disciplinary status, the episode remains an internal challenge the PPP will have to address going forward.
