PPP ward chief resigns over nomination of lawmaker facing child sex crime charges

Kim Jin-mo, the People Power Party's ward chief for Cheongju Seowon, has stepped down after drawing criticism for remarks seen as defending a former city council member under police investigation for alleged sexual exploitation of a minor.

The PPP's North Chungcheong Province chapter said Kim submitted his resignation to party headquarters on Thursday.

Kim did not give a specific reason for his departure, but he is understood to have taken responsibility for nominating the former lawmaker in the last local elections.

Earlier, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' North Chungcheong chapter had issued a statement calling on Kim to resign, saying his remarks defending the former lawmaker — who faces sex crime charges — amounted to secondary harm against victims.

The former lawmaker, Choi Young-jung, is accused of having sexual relations with a middle school student in a vehicle and at a motel on two or three occasions between October 2024 and last May, and of producing sexual exploitation material, in violation of the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth from Sexual Abuse. He resigned from the city council on Thursday.