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PPP suspends Bae Hyun-jin for a year over posting photo of minor during online dispute with private citizen

Published: 13 Feb. 2026, 19:57 Updated: 13 Feb. 2026, 20:08

Rep. Bae Hyun-jin of the People Power Party speaks to reporters as she arrives at the party’s headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul, to attend a central ethics committee meeting on Feb. 11. [NEWS1]

Korea’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) suspended one of its prominent lawmakers on Friday, stripping her of her role overseeing Seoul’s local election campaign and exposing deepening factional strains within the party just months before voters head to the polls.

The opposition party’s central ethics committee imposed a one-year suspension on Rep. Bae Hyun-jin, saying her posting of a photo of a minor during an online dispute violated party standards and risked causing public harm.

The controversy began on Jan. 25, when Bae got into a Facebook argument with a private citizen over President Lee Jae Myung's withdrawal of Lee Hye-hoon’s nomination to head the Ministry of Planning and Budget.

“You post a photo of your child [on your profile] and leave malicious comments,” Bae wrote, and uploaded an image in the comment thread that appeared to show the citizen’s minor child.

In announcing its decision to suspend Bae for a year, the ethics committee said posting a photo of a minor “could constitute insulting or threatening expression, amount to defamation and cause public discomfort, running counter to public sentiment.”

The suspension forces Bae to step down as chair of the PPP's Seoul chapter, a position that oversees preparations in the capital for local elections scheduled for June. She retains her seat in the National Assembly.

Former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon speaks at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Songpa District, Seoul, on Feb. 8. [NEWS1]

The decision comes amid mounting strife within the main opposition party, which has been divided along factional lines. In recent weeks, the ethics committee expelled former party leader Han Dong-hoon and also recommended that former Supreme Council member Kim Jong-hyeok leave the party, steps that have intensified perceptions among some lawmakers that internal power struggles are spilling into formal party proceedings.

Several Seoul district party chiefs publicly urged restraint ahead of the committee's announcement.

“Proceeding with disciplinary action against a chapter chair directly elected by roughly 4,000 Seoul delegates could be seen as abandoning the local elections,” 18 officials said in a joint statement.

Former lawmaker Oh Shin-hwan and other district chiefs sought a meeting with party leader Jang Dong-hyeok, but it did not take place.

“The ethics committee carries out its duties independently, so it would not be appropriate for the party leader to express a position on the disciplinary process,” Jang said on an SBS radio program on Thursday.

“If the ethics committee takes no action on issues that have caused controversy within the party, it would create problems in establishing party discipline,” he said.

The committee took a more lenient view of other complaints involving Bae. It issued only a warning over a social media post from November of last year in which she referred to former first lady Kim Keon Hee as “vulgar Kim Keon Hee,” saying the remark could be interpreted as highly aggressive and excessive but warranted only a caution.

It also declined to discipline her over a post about Jang, who was on a hunger strike last month, in which she wrote, “There is nothing to gain if the head of our party starves to death.” The committee said that while the comment may have made some uncomfortable, it did not justify punishment.

A separate complaint — that Bae misrepresented a statement by 21 Seoul district chiefs opposing another disciplinary decision as the official position of the Seoul chapter — remains unresolved, with the committee saying it was difficult to verify the facts.

Former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon shakes hands with Rep. Bae Hyun-jin as he heads to the National Assembly’s press briefing room in western Seoul to speak about the party ethics committee’s decision to expel him on Jan. 14. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Reaction within the party quickly split along familiar lines.

Rep. Park Jeong-hun, an ally of former leader Han, criticized the decision on Facebook.

“Jang Dong-hyuk should resign,” he wrote, calling the move “an act of usurpation aimed at taking away the Seoul chapter’s nomination authority and an act that benefits the Democratic Party.”

Rep. Ahn Sang-hoon described it as “political retaliation” over the disciplining of conservative YouTuber Ko Sung-kook and “a disgraceful drama” to seize control of the Seoul chapter’s nomination authority.

Others expressed concern about the timing.

“At a time when we should be putting bread-and-butter issues on the holiday table, this disciplinary action — which can be seen as eliminating a rival — is causing public fatigue,” a first-term lawmaker who described themselves as neutral told the JoongAng Ilbo.

“It looks like we are giving up on the election ourselves,” the lawmaker added.

But a party leadership official defended the decision, saying, “Excluding members aligned with Han's faction from discipline would itself be preferential treatment.”

The official added that the core issue was not political alignment but the posting of a minor’s photograph, and that resolving the matter before the elections was “necessary, even if it caused short-term friction.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SON KUK-HEE,PARK JUN-KYU [[email protected]]