▲ Lawmaker Lee Choon-seok
Independent Lawmaker Lee Choon-seok has been indicted and sent to trial on allegations of trading stocks under the name of his aide.
The Financial Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office announced today (the 8th) that it has indicted Lawmaker Lee without detention on charges including violations of the Real Name Financial Transactions Act, the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, the Public Service Ethics Act, and the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.
Also indicted were an aide surnamed Cha, who is accused of lending his securities account and mobile phone to Lawmaker Lee; a senior secretary, A, who is accused of destroying evidence upon Cha's instructions; and four acquaintances accused of providing Lawmaker Lee with cash gifts for family events that exceeded legal limits.
According to prosecutors, Lawmaker Lee received a mobile phone installed with a securities application and its password from Cha in March 2020 while serving as a 20th-term lawmaker, and again in June 2024 right after taking office as a 22nd-term lawmaker, using them to trade stocks through a securities account under Cha's name.
During the trading process, Lawmaker Lee came to hold more than 30 million won worth of stocks in the said proxy account, but failed to sell the stocks or place them in a blind trust within the statutory deadline.
He was also charged with receiving a total of 29 million won from four acquaintances in 2021, during his tenure as the Secretary-General of the National Assembly, under the guise of condolence money for his mother's funeral and congratulatory money for his daughter's wedding.
Aide Cha faces charges of instructing senior secretary A to destroy and conceal evidence—such as shredding documents in the lawmaker's office and removing a laptop—after suspicions were raised in August 2025 that Lawmaker Lee had traded artificial intelligence (AI)-related stocks using information acquired while serving as the head of Economic Division 2 of the State Affairs Planning Committee at the time.
However, regarding the suspicion that Lawmaker Lee utilized undisclosed information (a violation of the Capital Markets Act), which the police had decided not to send for prosecution, prosecutors requested a reinvestigation and re-examined the records, but ultimately returned the case records after concluding that the police decision was valid.
In August of last year, media cameras captured Lawmaker Lee trading stocks under Cha's name on the main floor of the National Assembly.
Following this, the People Power Party and civic groups filed successive complaints against Lawmaker Lee, prompting a police investigation.
At the time, the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency referred Lawmaker Lee to the prosecutors four months later on charges including violations of the Real Name Financial Transactions Act and the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, but decided not to forward the allegation of utilizing undisclosed information, citing insufficient evidence of guilt.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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