Namguk Kim sues Tae-kyung Ha for defamation over 'coin trading' remarks... Ha says "He should resign from his parliamentary seat"

Independent lawmaker Kim Nam-guk filed a defamation lawsuit against Ha Tae-kyung of the People Power Party, accusing him of spreading false information related to Kim's cryptocurrency transactions.

Ha responded by stating that his criticism of Kim was based on objective data and argued that Kim stepping down from his position as a lawmaker would be the least courtesy he could show to the public.

On May 31, Kim Nam-guk, an independent lawmaker who left the Democratic Party of Korea amid controversy over virtual asset (cryptocurrency) trading, is leaving his National Assembly office. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On the 22nd, Kim posted on his Facebook, "I have filed a defamation suit against Ha Tae-kyung for spreading false information and recklessly raising suspicions based on incorrect facts."

Kim stated, "I have repeatedly emphasized that there was no illegal or unlawful activity from the initial investment formation through the entire cryptocurrency trading process. I even recently expressed willingness to undergo a lie detector test." He added, "I hope the prosecution will not waste investigative resources and taxpayers' money chasing after unfounded facts."

He continued, "From the beginning of the case, I explained that it was a legitimate investment made with my own money, but some media outlets and politicians continued to raise indiscriminate suspicions and political attacks without proper fact-checking. Among them, Ha Tae-kyung's case is particularly severe." He claimed, "Regarding the number of transactions, despite publicly available data proving otherwise, he categorically stated false information. Also, a specific SNS post included in the lawsuit was mostly inaccurate from start to finish, sentence by sentence. Based on these incorrect facts, he clearly spread false information."

He added, "A simple search and investigation could have verified the facts, but without such efforts, he repeatedly and definitively spread false information on SNS and broadcasts." He concluded, "I will hold Ha Tae-kyung fully accountable both criminally and civilly for his reckless and indiscriminate remarks."

Earlier, Ha raised suspicions via his Facebook and radio broadcasts that Kim conducted up to 50 cryptocurrency transactions per day during January and February last year, just before the presidential election. Ha also alleged that Kim laundered funds by exchanging WEMIX coins worth about 3.6 billion KRW for the newly launched coin KlayPay.

Meanwhile, a few hours after Kim posted on Facebook, Ha posted a rebuttal on his own Facebook titled, "Here is the record showing that Kim Nam-guk made dozens of coin transactions per day."

Ha said, "Kim Nam-guk has sued me for defamation and spreading false information. When I criticized that Kim, who made dozens of coin transactions per day, is unfit to be a lawmaker, he claimed this was false information." He asserted, "The fact that Kim made dozens of coin transactions per day in many cases has been confirmed through objective data."

Ha cited an article from a cryptocurrency media outlet dated May 15, which analyzed Kim's coin transactions excluding Upbit and Bithumb. "According to the article, Kim's coin wallet addresses number 65, and from October 1, 2021, to April 27, 2023, a total of 2,920 transactions were made. Excluding duplicates, there are 1,446 transactions," he explained.

He added, "Among these, looking only at days in 2022 with more than 20 transactions: January 31 (43 transactions), February 14 (49), February 16 (29), February 19 (22), March 8 (20), March 28 (37), April 3 (21), April 21 (57), April 22 (26), April 25 (30), May 8 (23), May 9 (28, Han Dong-hoon confirmation hearing), May 22 (22), October 21 (23), and November 14 (35)."

He noted, "This does not include transaction records from exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb, which are not verifiable." He also said, "The article even provides a link to the full transaction history analyzed by the media."

Ha criticized, "Kim Nam-guk has neglected his main duties and conducted coin transactions even during National Assembly committee meetings, deepening public distrust in politics. He is currently referred to the National Assembly Ethics Committee." He added, "Instead of offering a sincere apology to the public, he sued me for criticizing him based on objective data."

He concluded, "Even before the Ethics Committee's decision, stepping down from his position would be the least courtesy he could show to the public."

Previously, on the 7th of last month, Kim filed defamation lawsuits against Kim Sung-won of the People Power Party and Jang Ye-chan, a Supreme Council member of the same party, for spreading false information.

Contrary to his initial promise to actively cooperate with investigations into various allegations surrounding his cryptocurrency transactions, Kim effectively refused to submit his virtual asset transaction records when requested by the National Assembly Ethics Special Committee's Ethics Review Advisory Committee last month.

At that time, Kim stated, "Regarding the Ethics Review Advisory Committee's request for transaction records, I judged that since the grounds for disciplinary action were not specifically identified, it was difficult to acknowledge the relevance and necessity of the disciplinary action, so I did not submit the records."

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