DP refers crypto-trading lawmaker to ethics committee

Rep. Kim Nam-kuk arrives at his office at the National Assembly on Sunday. [YONHAP]

The liberal Democratic Party (DP) abruptly decided on Wednesday to refer former member Rep. Kim Nam-kuk to a parliamentary ethics committee for his cryptocurrency transactions, following internal criticism of an earlier party statement that did not mention such a measure.

Kim left the party on Sunday amid controversy over his ownership of 6 billion won ($4.4 million) worth of Wemix cryptocurrency tokens that were issued by the game publisher Wemade.

Suspicions surrounding Kim’s crypto investments include the provenance of the money he used to buy the cryptocurrency and whether he used insider information to time his purchase and sale of Wemix tokens early last year.

Party spokesman Park Sung-joon said the party leadership, including DP leader Lee Jae-myung, reached the decision to refer Kim to the National Assembly’s Special Ethics Committee after the lawmaker “admitted he engaged in cryptocurrency transactions during parliamentary committee meetings.”

Kim has also been accused of trading cryptocurrency while attending at least two meetings of the National Assembly’s Judiciary Committee in May and November last year.

Kim has also faced criticism that he tried to pre-empt the scandal by quitting the party.

Kim partially acknowledged those allegations during a Monday interview with political journalist Kim Eo-jun, who runs a YouTube news channel.

“I think it was incredibly misguided [to conduct virtual coin transactions as a sitting lawmaker], regardless of whether it was done while a committee was in session or not,” Kim said while claiming the transaction amount was “too small” for him to recall.

But it remained unclear if Kim’s referral to the ethics committee will quell criticism that the party was out of step with the public furor over the lawmaker’s cryptocurrency transactions.

Wednesday’s decision came after the party leadership faced a tide of internal criticism from DP lawmakers for omitting any mention of referring Kim to the ethics committee in a statement issued after a general meeting of all its sitting lawmakers on Sunday afternoon.

While proposals in the post-meeting statement included a promise to investigate and potentially penalize Kim for his crypto holdings and transactions and passing a National Assembly bill requiring the disclosure of lawmakers’ virtual assets, it did not include a decision to refer Kim to the National Assembly’s Special Ethics Committee, much to some lawmakers’ chagrin.

Rep. Park Yong-jin said in an interview with CBS Radio on Monday that “several DP lawmakers were deeply displeased and demanded an explanation from the floor leader in the all-member group chat.”

Meanwhile, the National Assembly’s National Policy Committee adopted a resolution on Wednesday that would require all sitting lawmakers to disclose their virtual assets for potential investigation by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.

While Kim claimed he had not violated any laws by conducting cryptocurrency transactions, he previously co-sponsored a bill to delay the taxation of virtual assets, giving rise to allegations that he faced a conflict of interest as a lawmaker who owned cryptocurrencies.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]