Petition asks NO:EL’s father to be stripped of lawmaker post over his son’s crime

Calls are growing for Rep. Chang Je-won of the main opposition People Power Party to step down from his lawmaker post after critics accuse him responsible for his son driving without a license and assaulting a police officer.

An open petition to the Blue House asked Rep. Chang to be stripped of his lawmaker post as his son Chang Yong-jun, better known by his stage name NO:EL is under police investigation on charges of unlicensed driving and assaulting a police officer on Sept. 18 in Seoul.

According to police, the son of the three-term conservative lawmaker head-butted a police officer who asked Chang to be tested for blood alcohol concentration.

The petition that started on Sept. 23 garnered more than 220,000 signatures by Saturday afternoon, passing the mark of 200,000 signatures within 30 days required to get official response from the presidential office.

“We can’t help but think that Rep. Chang is responsible as the father for continued criminal actions from Chang Yong-jun,” the petition reads. “The reason Chang Yong-jun could continue his criminal activities is because he has a lawmaker as his father.”

In 2019, he was sentenced to 18 months in jail suspended for two years after causing a car accident uner the influence. He was also involved in a battery case in February but was not charged.

The petition asked the presidential office to step in and exert influence to take the lawmaker post from Rep. Chang.

“I deeply apologize for my sin in not raising my child right,” Rep. Chang said in a Facebook post on Sept. 28 as he resigned from a post from the presidential campaign of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl. “I will now diligently do my job as a father which I failed to do until now.”

NO:EL at the moment is facing possible jail time as he was on probation when the incident took place last month.

By Ko Jun-tae (ko.juntae@heraldcorp.com)