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| ▲ Rep. Yi Byeong-jin of the ruling Democratic Party walks out of the Suwon High Court in Suwon, south of Seoul, in this file photo taken on Aug. 28, 2025. (Yonhap) |
court-lawmaker
Ruling party lawmaker loses seat for election law violation
SEOUL, Jan. 8 (Yonhap) -- A lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party, Rep. Yi Byeong-jin, lost his parliamentary seat Thursday after the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that fined him for violating the election law.
The top court confirmed a 7 million-won (US$4,800) fine against Yi on charges of underreporting his assets during the parliamentary elections in April 2024, when he was elected into office.
By law, a lawmaker is stripped of his or her parliamentary seat if sentenced to a prison term or a fine of 1 million won or more for violating the Public Official Election Act.
It also upheld a separate fine of 5 million won for violating the Act on Real Name Financial Transactions and Confidentiality, which requires the use of real names in financial transactions to prevent illegal acts, such as speculation and tax evasion.
Yi was indicted in October 2024 on charges of failing to report some of his assets during his parliamentary election campaign, including some 70 million won worth of stocks and a record of having put up land he possessed in the central city of Asan as collateral for loans.
He was also accused of omitting his name when jointly purchasing the land in Asan with an acquaintance in 2018.
Yi had argued that he was not the owner of the assets, claiming his acquaintances possessed them.
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