One in Three National Assembly Members Has a Criminal Record... Numerous Cases of Drunk Driving Too

Kyungryeolyeon Analyzes Criminal Records of 283 People
Assemblyman Kim Cheol-min Holds 4 Criminal Records
Kyungryeolyeon "Nomination Exclusion Criteria Must Be Strengthened"

It was found that more than three out of ten members of the 21st National Assembly have criminal records.

The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) announced on the 25th that an analysis of the criminal records of 283 members of the 21st National Assembly revealed that 94 members (33.2%) had a total of 150 criminal cases.

CCEJ investigated the criminal records of 283 incumbent members based on the information submitted to the National Election Commission during candidate registration in March 2020. According to CCEJ, among the 150 criminal cases held by the 94 members with records, violations of the National Security Act and Assembly and Demonstration Act accounted for the largest number with 83 cases.

Following that were 38 cases (56.7%) related to drunk driving offenses, 10 cases (14.9%) of livelihood crimes, 9 cases (13.4%) of election crimes, 3 cases (4.5%) of property crimes, 2 cases (3.0%) of corruption, 2 cases (3.0%) of document forgery, 2 cases (3.0%) of false accusation, and 1 case (1.5%) of violent crime.

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Cheol-min was found to have the highest number of criminal records excluding those related to democratization and labor movements among the 283 incumbent members. Lawmaker Kim holds a total of 4 criminal records: 2 for violations of the Building Act and 2 for drunk driving.

Including Kim, 94 incumbent lawmakers (32.2%) have criminal records. Excluding those with records related to democratization and labor movements, the number decreases to 47. Among these 47, the number of lawmakers with criminal records by party affiliation is ▲27 from the Democratic Party of Korea ▲19 from the People Power Party ▲1 independent lawmaker.

It was revealed that 94 members of the 21st National Assembly have criminal records, according to the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) on the 25th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

A total of 15 lawmakers have two or more criminal records. Democratic Party lawmakers Seo Young-seok, Seol Hoon, and Shin Jeong-hoon each have 3 cases, while Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Hoon-sik and People Power Party lawmaker Koo Ja-geun, among 11 others, each have 2 cases.

Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Hak-young was found to have a violent crime record. He was sentenced to imprisonment for robbery and bodily injury. Lawmaker Lee explained, "The criminal record is related to the Namjosun Minjok Haebang Jeonseon (Namminjeon) case, which was separately prosecuted and was an incident opposing the Park Chung-hee Yushin dictatorship regime and corrupt conglomerates."

Meanwhile, CCEJ urged that in next year’s general election, each party should strengthen the criteria for excluding candidates from nomination and remove exceptions to conduct thorough qualification checks. They pointed out that "those with livelihood crimes and shameless crimes should be considered unqualified and excluded from nominations."

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