South Korean parliament rejects motion to expel lawmaker over crypto scandal

South Korea’s parliamentary morals subcommittee has voted down a question to expel Kim Nam-kuk, a erstwhile subordinate of the main absorption Democratic Party.

A parliamentary morals subcommittee of South Korea has voted down a question to expel Kim Nam-kuk, a former member of the main absorption Democratic Party (DP), the section quality bureau Yonhap reported connected Aug. 30.

The subcommittee rejected the connection connected Aug. 29 aft the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the DP divided evenly implicit the question successful a 3-3 vote. A bulk of votes was needed for the question to beryllium passed, the study notes.

As antecedently reported, Kim came nether occurrence earlier this twelvemonth erstwhile helium was recovered to person erstwhile held astatine slightest $4.5 cardinal successful Wemix (WEMIX) tokens, developed by the South Korean blockchain crippled developer Wemade. Wemix tokens person been allowed for trading connected large exchanges successful South Korea earlier a section court ordered to delist the tokens connected the platforms successful precocious 2022.

Kim’s engagement successful WEMIX investments spurred large concerns implicit imaginable conflicts of interest, utilizing insider accusation and adjacent wealth laundering. The lawsuit contributed to the accelerated improvement of a ineligible inaugural to require officials to study connected their holdings of cryptocurrencies similar Bitcoin (BTC) successful South Korea.

Kim Nam-kuk astatine a plenary league astatine the National Assembly successful Seoul connected Aug. 24, 2023. Source: Yonhap

Officials successful South Korea are not unsocial successful being asked to study connected their cryptocurrency holdings successful the country. In July, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission announced a caller measure that would require each firms that contented oregon clasp cryptocurrencies to disclose their holdings from 2024.

Related: SEC seeks to question Terraform Labs co-founder Daniel Shin successful Korea

In mid-August, the South Korean metropolis of Cheongju besides said that it volition start confiscating cryptocurrency from section taxation delinquents, requiring exchanges similar Upbit and Bithumb to study connected specified perpetrators.

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