Democratic Party Expels Kim Hong-gul for "Damaging Party Dignity by Owning Multiple Real Estate Properties"

Ethics Inspection Team "Does Not Appear to Cooperate Sincerely with Inspection Duties"
"Party Dignity Tarnished by Multiple Real Estate Holdings"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea decided on the 18th to expel Assemblyman Kim Hong-gul, who is under suspicion of real estate speculation and omission in property declaration.

Kim Hong-gul, elected proportional representative of the Democratic Citizen Party, is attending the disbandment ceremony of the election countermeasure committee held at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul on the 17th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Choi In-ho, the senior spokesperson of the Democratic Party, held a briefing at the National Assembly in the afternoon and stated, “Choi Gi-sang, head of the Ethics Inspection Team, requested the emergency disciplinary expulsion of Assemblyman Kim Hong-gul to Representative Lee Nak-yeon, and the Supreme Council unanimously agreed,” conveying this decision.

Regarding the reason for the expulsion, Senior Spokesperson Choi said, “The Ethics Inspection Team had initiated an investigation into Assemblyman Kim’s violation of the Public Official Election Act, but he did not appear to cooperate sincerely with the inspection duties,” and added, “He damaged the party’s dignity by holding multiple real estate properties, which goes against the intent of the real estate policy.”

He continued, “In response, Representative Lee convened the 10th Supreme Council urgently and, after gathering opinions, decided on the expulsion of Assemblyman Kim.”

Disciplinary actions usually go through deliberation by the party’s Ethics Tribunal and are resolved by the Supreme Council, but this expulsion was an emergency disciplinary action, so such procedures were omitted. Senior Spokesperson Choi explained, “The party leader can impose disciplinary measures by Supreme Council resolution despite disciplinary procedures and explanations if there are serious and obvious reasons for discipline or if failure to handle the matter would cause significant problems for the party.”

After the briefing, when asked by reporters why only Assemblyman Kim was expelled among those referred to the Ethics Inspection Team except Assemblyman Lee Sang-jik, he replied, “Assemblyman Kim literally had the investigation initiated but was confirmed to have no intention to cooperate sincerely, so the head of the Ethics Inspection Team requested expulsion to the party leader,” and added, “Assemblyman Lee is undergoing investigation, and the results will be reported as soon as they come out.”

Regarding criticism that this could be seen as a failure of verification similar to the case of Assemblywoman Yang Jeong-sook, he said, “Such aspects are included in the party’s expulsion measures.” Assemblywoman Yang was expelled due to suspicion of real estate name-trust and is currently active as an independent. Senior Spokesperson Choi said, “After receiving the report from the head of the Ethics Inspection Team that day, the emergency Supreme Council was convened immediately in the afternoon, and the decision was made swiftly without any objections,” and added, “The leadership all agreed without objection.”

Assemblyman Kim, who was elected as number 4 on the Democratic Party’s proportional representation list in the 21st general election, became an independent due to this expulsion decision. Before the general election, he was suspected of underreporting by omitting apartment pre-sale rights worth over 1 billion won in his property declaration.