The main opposition Democratic Party decided Wednesday to refer Rep. Kim Nam-kuk, a former party member, to the parliamentary ethics committee over his dubious cryptocurrency dealings.

Kim departed from the DP earlier this week after revelations that he owned a significant amount of coins, fueling questions about the source of the funds and whether the independent lawmaker had access to insider information.

DP leader Lee Jae-myung and other members of the party's leadership reached the decision to refer Kim to the Special Committee on Ethics, DP spokesman Rep. Park Sung-joon said, amid growing criticism that the independent lawmaker is attempting to evade responsibility by simply leaving the party.

The first-term lawmaker has come under fire following revelations that he owned around 800,000 Wemix coins in 2021, worth around 6 billion won ($4.5 million), a significant amount inconsistent with his frugal image.

The transactions were reported to the Financial Services Commission's Financial Intelligence Unit, which classified the withdrawals as suspicious transactions and reported them to the prosecution.

On Monday, prosecutors raided two leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, as part of the investigation into the snowballing suspicions surrounding Kim. (Yonhap)