People Power Party to File Complaint with Virtual Asset Public Ethics Advisory Committee... Allegations of 'Kim Nam-guk Diversion'

Yoon Jae-ok "Ethics Review Advisory Committee Did Not Follow Legal Procedures"
Includes 5 People Power Party Lawmakers Among 11 Members, Including Kwon Young-se

The People Power Party is considering filing a complaint with the prosecution against the National Assembly Ethics Advisory Committee for disclosing the virtual asset holdings and transaction reports of lawmakers. This is because the Ethics Advisory Committee's public release of the self-reported information of lawmakers was judged to be a violation of the National Assembly Act's confidentiality obligations and the criminal law's prohibition on official secret disclosure.

On the 25th, Yoon Jae-ok, the floor leader of the People Power Party, told reporters after the National Assembly floor leaders' meeting, "Lawmakers voluntarily reported (virtual assets) with the expectation that the matter would be handled strictly according to the procedures stipulated by the National Assembly Act," adding, "The degree of legal violation by the Ethics Advisory Committee, which disregarded the lawmakers' goodwill and failed to follow the legally required procedures, is considered a situation that is difficult to overlook. Therefore, I instructed that legal measures be reviewed."

The People Power Party is raising concerns over the continuous media reports on the matter even before the Ethics Advisory Committee officially notified the ruling and opposition floor leaderships about the virtual asset-related information and potential conflicts of interest of their members. The Ethics Advisory Committee has a duty of confidentiality, and prematurely disclosing virtual asset report details to the media is considered a violation of the National Assembly Act.

Yoon Jae-ok, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 25th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Earlier, following the 'coin controversy' involving independent lawmaker Kim Nam-guk in May last year, the National Assembly amended the National Assembly Act to require asset declarations, but before that, all lawmakers were asked to submit their virtual asset holdings to the National Assembly Ethics Advisory Committee by the end of last month. This was to assess potential conflicts of interest in advance.

Floor leader Yoon said, "This is a matter that neither floor leader of the two major parties was aware of, and unverified facts are being reported due to media investigations and some Ethics Advisory Committee members failing to uphold basic confidentiality."

The Ethics Advisory Committee previously announced that a total of 11 lawmakers reported holding virtual assets and stated, "In some cases, there are potential conflicts of interest." Among the 11 lawmakers who reported virtual asset information, five belong to the People Power Party: Minister of Unification Kwon Young-se, and lawmakers Kim Jeong-jae, Lee Yang-su, Yoo Kyung-jun, and Lee Jong-seong. Notably, Minister Kwon and Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Hong-gul were reported to have conducted over 400 and 100 virtual asset transactions respectively over the past three years, with cumulative purchase amounts exceeding 1 billion KRW. Minister Kwon explained to the media, "I started with about 30 to 40 million KRW in 2020, repeatedly stopped and resumed trading, and stopped altogether earlier this year. I have never chaired a related standing committee, had almost no trading during my tenure as minister, and never traded during work hours," but the controversy has not subsided.

Within the People Power Party, there are suspicions that the leak of the Ethics Advisory Committee's report details is an attempt to divert attention from Kim Nam-guk. This is because Kim was recommended for the highest disciplinary action, 'expulsion from the National Assembly,' due to the coin controversy, and his self-reported information was disclosed. A People Power Party official said, "It is problematic to disclose information just because someone held or traded virtual assets," adding, "We need to clearly distinguish between normal and abnormal investments, but this kind of approach could be seen as an attempt to divert attention."

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