Opposition lawmaker loses seat for violating election law

SEOUL, July 9 (Yonhap) -- An opposition party lawmaker lost his seat in the
National Assembly on Thursday after the Supreme Court convicted him of lying
about his personal assets in violation of election laws.
The highest court found Rep. Jeong Kuk-kyo of the main opposition Democratic
Party (DP) guilty of under-reporting his assets when registering to run in the
general election of April last year and fined him 10 million won (US$7,800).
A jail term or a fine of over one million won, if confirmed by the Supreme Court,
results in the nullification of parliamentary seats.
The court, however, overturned a lower court's ruling that Jeong pocketed profit
through share price manipulation.
The latest ruling reduced the DP's seats to 84 in the 299-member National Assembly.
Since last year's election, a total of 11 lawmakers from both ruling and
opposition parties, including Jeong, have lost their parliamentary seats due to
election law violations.
brk@yna.co.kr
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