Where’s the frugality, Rep. Kim Nam-kook?

Controversy is getting heated over the possession of a large amount of cryptocurrency by the Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker Kim Nam-kook, who defined himself as a clean politician. The suspicion erupted after the news broke that he possessed up to 6 billion won ($4.5 million) worth of Wemix — the cryptocurrency issued by game publisher Wemade — between January and February last year. Other news reports raised the possibility of the legislator having drawn out more than 800,000 Wemix coins in late February and early March 2022, shortly before the Travel Rule mandated real name-based trading of digital coins. The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit is currently looking into the suspicion.

A bigger problem is the omission of the cryptocurrency when the representative reported his wealth to the authorities. In 2022, he reported his assets worth 1.2 billion won; the following year, 1.5 billion won. But the sum was only one-fourth of the value of his cryptocurrencies. The lawmaker said he had skipped the reporting, as cryptocurrencies are not required to be reported by public office holders. That shows loopholes in the ethics law for them. The People Power Party suspects that the lawmaker took advantage of the loopholes from the initial stage of investing in the cryptocurrency. In 2021, he even co-sponsored a bill to delay leving an income tax on cryptocurrency trading.

Compared to the general public, lawmakers enjoy privileges in accessing various types of investment information, including on government policies. That calls for a thorough oversight of the transparency of their deals to accumulate personal assets.

Kim vowed to “stake his political life and all assets” on proving his innocence. He even proposed a “truth-finding game” to others who raise suspicions while vehemently attacking “the prosecution led by Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon” for a “politically-engineered investigation.” The lawmaker must first convince the people of his innocence by frankly explaining what he did in detail. That’s the minimum he can do as a legislator to repay the debt he owes to the voters.

The possession of an extraordinary amount of cryptocurrencies by a lawmaker is contradictory to his championing of his image as a frugal politician, which was criticized as “poverty marketing” by pundits. He even claimed he had never slept in a hotel and instead shared one motel room with his staffers during the election campaign. The public expressed rage when the double standards of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk and former Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom, a DP lawmaker, were exposed a few years ago. If the DP and Rep. Kim Nam-kook do not take appropriate actions to convince the voters, they cannot avoid anger this time too.