The ruling Saenuri Party held a meeting in parliament on Friday to discuss the fate of its current leadership amid the Choi Soon-sil political scandal, but failed to reach a conclusion.
Chairman Lee Jung-hyun has been pressured to step down to take responsibility over the scandal involving a president's longtime confidante.
The ruling party's floor spokesman Min Kyung-wook said in a briefing that during the meeting that lasted six and a half hours, 44 lawmakers held a heated debate over the leadership's resignation but they were sharply divided and failed to reach an agreement.
Chairman Lee is known to have said in closing remarks that he will not cling to his post and that he wants to step down right away but will take time and decide after consulting with other party members.
During the meeting, some lawmakers pointed out that the current leadership who are viewed as belonging to the pro-president faction should take responsibility, step down immediately and let an emergency leadership committee take over.
But Saenuri's mainstream members refuted this saying that stepping down will not resolve matters.
Source: KBS World Radio
