An advisory panel of the parliamentary ethics committee was set to decide Thursday the level of disciplinary measures against independent lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk accused of dubious cryptocurrency holdings.
Kim, formerly affiliated with the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), could be subject to the maximum punishment of having to relinquish his parliamentary seat, according to an official at the National Assembly.
A preliminary investigation revealed that Kim conducted over 200 cryptocurrency trades while attending parliamentary committee meetings. The balance of cashable assets in his cryptocurrency wallets amounted to approximately 9.9 billion won (US$ 7.8 million) at one point in late 2021.
"The number of trades he made during standing committee meetings is higher than expected, and considering his explanation and attitude toward the allegations, it is difficult to rule out the possibility of the advisory panel deciding on expulsion," the official said.
The panel's decision is expected to be made later in the day.
The first-term lawmaker has come under fire following revelations that he had owned around 800,000 Wemix coins in 2021, worth around 6 billion won, a significant amount inconsistent with his frugal image. This spurred suspicions about where the money came from and whether he used insider information.
Since the scandal surfaced, Kim has quit the DP and become an independent.
The advisory panel, consisting of outside experts, is supposed to deliberate on the level of disciplinary measures against lawmakers referred to the ethics committee, and the panel's decision is usually endorsed by the committee.
The decision will then be put to a vote in a plenary session at the National Assembly.
In South Korea, a lawmaker is subject to four levels of punishments from the parliamentary ethics committee, ranging from a warning at the lowest to the maximum of expulsion from parliament.
Source: Yonhap News Agency