National Assembly ethics advisory board to determine level of disciplinary measure against Kim Nam-kuk for controversial cryptocurrency today

Independent lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk, who stirred controversy with his possession of cryptocurrency, attends a session of the parliamentary Education Committee with a serious face on June 12. Bak Min-gyu, Senior Reporter

The ethics advisory board of the Special Ethics Committee in the National Assembly will conclude discussions on disciplinary action against independent lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk and his controversial possession of virtual assets on June 26. Attention is on what recommendations the board will deliver to the Ethics Committee.

On June 23, Yoo Jae-pung, chairman of the ethics advisory board, met with the press after the third board meeting, which included three additional cryptocurrency experts, and announced, “We will meet again and reach a conclusion on June 26.” Yoo explained that the meeting would be held with just the board members and without lawmaker Kim and said that the board had no plans to summon the independent lawmaker again. Instead of a record of all transactions, Kim only submitted a partial record to the ethics advisory board.

The board will recommend the level of disciplinary action, and after taking the recommendation into consideration, the Special Ethics Committee will decide whether to take disciplinary action and what type of action it will take. Disciplinary measures against a legislator are divided into four levels: a warning in a public meeting, an apology in a public meeting, suspension from parliamentary sessions for up to thirty days and a 50% cut in allowances during the suspension period, and expulsion.

In the 21st National Assembly, the ethics advisory board reviewed a total of four cases subject to disciplinary measures, which were laid before the Ethics Committee, and among them the board advised the committee to expel three lawmakers. One of the three was former lawmaker Lee Sang-jik, who already lost his parliamentary seat in a court ruling. The other two cases are pending in the Ethics Committee. They are independent lawmaker Youn Mee-hyang, who allegedly embezzled donations from the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, and People Power Party lawmaker Park Duk-hyum, involved in a clash of interests with his family’s company.

The National Assembly passed a proposal to expel a legislator only once in the history of the nation’s Constitution and it was against the former President Kim Young-sam. The Ethics Committee passed a motion to expel former lawmaker Shim Hak-bong following a rape allegation in 2015, but Shim resigned before the motion was put to a vote in the National Assembly, so the lawmakers voted to accept his resignation instead.