Rep. Jang Kyung-tae leaving the assembly hall. Yonhap News

The Democratic Party of Korea stated regarding the sexual misconduct allegations against its lawmaker Jang Kyung-tae, "The party maintains a cautious stance until the truth is revealed, but we are not taking this matter lightly."

Park Soo-hyun, the senior spokesperson, responded this way to a question about how the party views the seriousness of the issue during a briefing at the National Assembly after the Supreme Council meeting.

Regarding Rep. Chung Jin-hyeok's order for an ethics audit committee investigation into these allegations, he said, "As of now, there is nothing more the leadership can do beyond this order," adding, "We will see if there are further actions the leadership needs to take based on the audit committee's findings."

When asked if the allegations were discussed in the closed-door Supreme Council meeting today, he stated that they were not.

Furthermore, when asked if Rep. Jang had expressed his intention to resign from his party positions, including his role as the special committee chairperson for party member sovereignty, he replied, "Not yet."

Meanwhile, female lawmakers from the People Power Party issued a statement today, saying, "Sexual offenses are brutal violence that shatters a person's life and a serious crime," and demanded, "The Democratic Party must immediately expel Rep. Jang, and the leadership, including Rep. Chung, must immediately kneel before the victim and apologize."

Yonhap News