South Korean lawmaker Kim Nam-kook has found himself in trouble after being accused of making suspicious crypto trades worth around 6 billion KRW ($4.5 million).
The Korea Times reported that the politician is accused of withdrawing his crypto holdings from the exchange shortly before the implementation of the so-called crypto travel rule in March 2022. The rule obliges owners of crypto assets to conduct real name transactions. The unnamed exchange reported Kim’s transactions to the state-run Korea Financial Intelligence Unit, which subsequently referred the case to South Korean prosecutors. The MP dismissed the allegations and claimed that he had not redeemed most of his crypto holdings, but had instead transferred them to a different exchange.
Politicians dismiss the allegations
Kim is also defending himself by saying that he was not required to report his crypto holdings under the disclosure obligation of the country’s Public Service Ethics Act.
“I have never borrowed nor received money from anyone (for crypto trading),” the lawmaker declared. “I sold some of my stocks to use for initial crypto investments. I only transacted through real name accounts and I can transparently share all transaction records.
Kim is a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the main opposition party in South Korea. The DPK is the largest party in the National Assembly, the lower house of the country’s parliament, with 168 MPs, and it opposes the People Power Party (PPP) of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The ruling party attacked the MP
The PPP has criticized the opposition lawmaker as the two parties intensify their rivalry ahead of South Korea’s upcoming parliamentary election. The vote is expected to take place in April 2024.
Yoo Sang-bum, a PPP lawmaker and spokesman, said, “The public is shocked by his double standards and attempts to gain sympathy by exposing his cheap shoes, even though he has $6 billion in crypto assets.”
Politicians from the ruling party were referring to Kim’s efforts to present himself as a modest public servant who seeks to represent socially vulnerable sections of South Korea’s population.
Meanwhile, Hong Joon-pyo, who is the mayor of Daegu and a PPP politician, has also called on Kim to resign from his post.
“This is a serious moral hazard,” the mayor said. “It appears that he had a get-rich-quick scheme with crypto trading. He should have quit his job as an MLA and focused on speculative trading instead. On top of that, he is crypto were at the forefront of delaying taxation, which can be seen as an abuse of their legislative power to protect the private properties of those who do.”