[News Today] DP lawmaker quits over stock trading

[LEAD]
Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Choon-suak has stepped down from the Judiciary Committee Chief post and left the party over allegations of stock trading under someone else's name.

He was caught on camera at the National Assembly using a stock trading app under his aide's name.

[REPORT]
The National Assembly plenary session on Aug. 4.

One of the lawmakers is seen using a mobile stock trading app.

He is Democratic Party Rep. Lee Choon-suak, who also heads the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

He was captured on camera checking out his account balance and conducting partitioning transactions of Naver stocks.

But the account is under the name of his aide surnamed Cha, who has worked for the lawmaker for years now.

The account contained around 100 million won or around 72,000 dollars worth of stocks, but when disclosing his assets back in March, Lee said he owned no stocks whatsoever.

If he did trade stocks under his aide's name instead of his real name, it's a violation of the act on the real name financial transactions and confidentiality.

As the controversy flared up, DP Chairman Jung Chung-rae ordered an emergency probe.

Last year Lee was also caught on camera checking his stock account during a parliamentary probe. It was also under his aide's name.

The People Power Party has decided to file a complaint against Lee and urged him to resign from the post of Legislation and Judiciary Committee chief.

Kwak Kyu-taek / Senior spokesperson, PPP
The shares that he traded that morning were even selected for government's announcement of the national AI team later in the afternoon.

The lawmaker initially said he was looking at his aide's phone, but as police launched a probe, he left the Democratic Party.

Lee said on social media he had tendered his resignation from the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and pledged to cooperate with the investigators.