Lawmaker accused of sexist remarks survives expulsion vote

(ATTN: UPDATES with passage of punishment bill, comments in 4-6 paras)
SEOUL, Aug. 31 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean lawmaker accused of making sexist remarks retained his seat as a motion to oust him was voted down in the National Assembly on Wednesday, sparking criticism that legislators are too soft on wrongdoings committed by fellow lawmakers.
Rep. Kang Yong-seok, 42, came under fire in July of last year after he made lewd remarks about TV anchorwomen and women's appearances in a meeting with college students. Soon after his sexist remarks were widely reported, the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) kicked the first-term lawmaker out of the party and a special ethics committee in May passed a bill to expel him from the parliament.
In a plenary session held later Wednesday, however, the bill was rejected in a 111-134 vote with 14 votes ruled invalid. A two-thirds majority of approval votes is needed to unseat a lawmaker.
Instead, lawmakers passed a measure to ban Kang from attending parliament for a month starting from Sept. 1.
Women's groups decried his weaker-than-expected punishment.
"It is regrettable that fellow lawmakers reaffirmed the criticism that lawmakers embrace faults of their peers," 51 civic groups said in a statement. "We were disappointed by the lawmakers' irrational judgment."
Former President Kim Young-sam is the only national legislator in South Korean history to have been ousted from parliament. In 1979, Kim, then the opposition leader, was expelled from the National Assembly as part of political oppression by the authoritarian government in power at the time.