South Korean Coin Gate Lawmaker Kim Nam-guk Found Not Guilty
Kim Nam-guk, the South Korean former lawmaker at the center of the Coin Gate scandal, has been cleared of “obstructing officials from performing their duties.”
Per News1, Kim was found not guilty of the charges at a branch of the Seoul Southern District Court.
The presiding judge, Justice Jeong Woo-yong, said that the prosecution’s case included “no evidence of” Kim committing “a crime.”
Kim Nam-guk Absolved: Court Says His Actions ‘Not Criminal’
The Coin Gate scandal galvanized South Korea, when allegations surfaced claiming that Kim had abused his position as a member of a National Assembly committee.
The former South Korean lawmaker Kim Nam-guk speaking to reporters outside a branch of the Seoul Southern District Court. (Source: KBS News/YouTube/Screenshot)
News reports claimed Kim sold unnamed cryptoassets after hearing news of imminent changes to crypto-related law.
Prosecutors had hoped to charge Kim on insider trading-related charges. However, they later decided to charge him with “obstructing officials in the course of their duties.”
They claimed that Kim had made “false declarations” about his cryptoassets to the National Assembly.
Prosecutors claimed that Kim had tried to “hide the fact that he owned a large amount of cryptocurrency.”
They told the court that Kim had “hidden” the fact that he had “made a large profit from crypto investments during his two National Assembly asset declarations in 2021 and 2022.”
Prosecution’s Case
Prosecution officials said that Kim sold some of his crypto holdings. They said he then transferred the fiat “to a bank deposit account to match his total assets.”
He then allegedly “converted the remaining assets” into crypto, prosecutors said.
And this, they claimed, was part of a bid to “obstruct the National Assembly Ethics Committee’s” probe into his assets.
A courtroom in the Seoul Southern District Court. (Source: YTN/YouTube/Screenshot)
Prosecutors Wanted to Jail Kim for 6 Months
Prosecutors told the court that Kim held crypto worth “approximately 9.9 billion won (over $6.8 million)” at the time of the 2021 asset declaration process.
However, Kim reportedly claimed his total assets were worth approximately 1.2 billion won (around $827,000), and that the funds “in the same way” in 2022.
In December last year, prosecution officials asked the court to jail Kim for six months if he was found guilty.
But the court rejected the prosecution’s case. It stated that at the time, cryptoassets “were not subject to declarations.”
As such, the judge said, it was impossible to consider “that [Kim] was under obligation to declare” his holdings.
The judge conceded that some declaration details had been “insufficient or inaccurate.” But Jeong added that it was “not easy to rule that the Ethics Committee” had been “obstructed.”
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment trial entered its final stage this week, with just two formal hearings remaining, and legal circles expecting the verdict would be out in mid-March.https://t.co/oWkDO7MdMF#YoonSukYeol #Impeachment #southKorea #News
— The Korea Herald 코리아헤럴드 (@TheKoreaHerald) February 10, 2025
New Declarations
The judge concluded that, on the basis of the evidence it had seen, there was “insufficient” reason to rule against Kim without further “evidence to support” the prosecution’s claims.
Since the scandal first broke, the National Assembly has introduced new crypto declaration rules for all sitting lawmakers.
Seoul has gone on to apply the same rules to scores of civil service roles. This means that a large number of public sector workers are now obliged to file annual crypto declarations.
Trump's deportation crackdowns impact Koreanshttps://t.co/QZ4gVN5GpD
— The Korea Times (@koreatimescokr) February 10, 2025
The lengthy court case launched in October last year, with Kim – a trained lawyer – vowing to clear his name.
At the first hearing, Kim told the court that since he “first ran for office,” he had “done [his] utmost to avoid committing even the most minor of illegal activities.”
“I had absolutely no intention to interfere with the duties of public officials.”
Former lawmaker Kim Nam-guk
The prosecution does not yet appear to have indicated whether it intends to appeal the District Court’s decision at the High Court.
Source: cryptonews.com
