In the End, Kim Nam-guk Apologized... Will the 'Kim Nam-guk Prevention Act' Also Pass?

Interest Grows in Including Virtual Asset Holdings in Lawmakers' Property Declarations
Ruling and Opposition Parties Continue Voices, but Doubts Remain on Reaching Consensus

Voices are growing to pass the so-called "Kim Nam-guk Prevention Act," which would include virtual assets held by members of the National Assembly in the property registration requirements, following the '6 billion won coin' incident involving Kim Nam-guk, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Calls to pass the bill are coming not only from the ruling party but also from the opposition. Attention is focused on whether the ruling and opposition parties, currently at odds over the Yellow Envelope Act and the Special Act on Jeonse Fraud, can unite over this incident.

On the 9th, Lee Yong-woo, a Democratic Party lawmaker, expressed on his social media (SNS), "For public officials, there is a high possibility of issues such as concealment of assets and tax evasion due to unreported virtual asset holdings, so measures to prevent this are essential. To prevent such problems, I have proposed a bill to grasp the status of virtual asset holdings by public officials, but it is regrettable that it is taking some time for this bill to pass."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Lee had proposed a bill in 2021 mandating public officials to report virtual assets, but the bill has yet to pass even the standing committee. Besides Lee, opposition lawmakers Shin Young-dae and Min Hyung-bae of the Democratic Party, and ruling party lawmaker Yoo Kyung-joon of the People Power Party have also proposed related bills, but no concrete discussions have taken place for over two years. The criticism that the '6 billion won coin' issue involving Kim ultimately grew due to political indifference is gaining traction.

Civil society organizations have also urged the National Assembly to respond swiftly to this situation. The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy stated, "This case has starkly revealed the blind spots in the current Public Officials Ethics Act," and called on the National Assembly to urgently amend the law.

The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice also demanded, "The National Assembly should take this opportunity to include virtual assets held by public officials in the property registration requirements and legislate so that the Public Officials Ethics Committee can request data submission from virtual asset service providers. We also hope each political party investigates the virtual asset holdings of their lawmakers and voluntarily discloses this information to the public."

Accordingly, discussions to include virtual assets in property registration requirements in the National Assembly are likely to accelerate. Kim Han-gyu, the Democratic Party floor spokesperson who proposed a bill mandating virtual asset registration earlier this month, told reporters that day, "There is no disagreement on swiftly processing these bills (mandating virtual asset registration) through bipartisan consultations," indicating the Democratic Party's positive stance on the discussions.

Related legislation is also lining up. On the same day, Kwon Seong-dong of the People Power Party announced via SNS that he is preparing the "Public Officials Virtual Asset Concealment Prevention Act," which would include virtual assets worth over 5 million won in the property registration and disclosure requirements for public officials and candidates, and regulate the reporting of virtual asset transaction details. He urged cooperation, saying, "Even if public trust has been broken due to the personal mistakes of a member of the National Assembly, there can be no division between ruling and opposition parties in restoring it."

Yoo Kyung-joon, who also proposed a related bill, stated on SNS, "If the ruling and opposition parties have no shame, let's pass the 'Kim Nam-guk Prevention Act' this time and conduct a full investigation of the coin transaction times and details of all 300 National Assembly members through the National Assembly Public Officials Ethics Committee, and openly disclose them to the public." He emphasized, "If there are members of the National Assembly who bought and sold coins while sitting in the plenary session, they should apologize to the public and be held accountable."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.