"Lawsuit for 'Mental Distress from Coin Investment'... Forced Settlement Ends with 'Kim Nam-guk's Expression of Regret'"

Both Sides Accepted and Confirmed

The civil lawsuit against independent lawmaker Kim Nam-guk, who was embroiled in controversy for holding cryptocurrency worth hundreds of millions of won, was concluded with a compulsory settlement in which Kim expressed regret.

According to the legal community on the 30th, Kim did not express any objection to the compulsory settlement proposal issued by the Seoul Southern District Court's 3rd mediation panel by the deadline for filing objections, which was the previous day.

A compulsory settlement is a system in civil litigation mediation procedures where, if the parties fail to reach an agreement, the court issues a decision substituting for the settlement ex officio. If either the plaintiff or defendant rejects it, a formal trial must proceed.

Assemblyman Kim Nam-guk [Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 15th, the court issued a compulsory settlement decision stating, "Express regret for trading virtual assets during a National Assembly standing committee session and make efforts to prevent recurrence in the future."

Earlier, Kim Soon-hwan, Secretary-General of the Civic Group People's Livelihood Countermeasures Committee, filed a lawsuit in May last year claiming that "Lawmaker Kim neglected his legislative duties and focused on cryptocurrency investment, causing mental distress," demanding 10 million won in damages.

On the 14th of last month, the court made a compulsory settlement requiring Kim to "express regret for the actions that caused the issue and make efforts to prevent recurrence," but Kim filed an objection stating, "If the expression of regret is limited to trading virtual assets during the standing committee session, I am willing to accept it," causing the mediation to fail.

The court issued a compulsory settlement decision again, which was accepted by both Kim and Mr. Kim's side, finalizing the settlement.

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