| Kim Nam-kuk | |
| Native Name Lang: | ko |
| Birth Date: | 22 October 1982 |
| Birth Place: | Gwangju, South Korea |
| Office1: | Member of the National Assembly |
| Constituency1: | Ansan Danwon 2nd |
| Term Start1: | 30 May 2020 |
| Predecessor1: | Park Soon-ja |
| Party: | Independent (2023-) Democratic (-2023) |
| Alma Mater: | Chung-Ang University Chonnam National University Seoul National University |
| Occupation: | Lawyer, politician |
| Signature: | Kim Nam-kuk signature.svg |
Kim Nam-kuk (born 22 October 1982) is a South Korean lawyer and politician. A person from Gwangju, he has currently been operating Lawyer Kim Nam-kuk Legal Firm.[1] [2] He, also one of co-writers of White Paper on Cho Kuk, is widely known for his pro-Cho Kuk views.[3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Kim obtained his Bachelor of Public Administration degree from Chung-Ang University in 2008.[1] [2] He proceeded to postgraduate studies in law at Chonnam National University, being graduated in 2012.[1] [2] He had completed his doctoral programme in law at Seoul National University in 2016.[1] [2]
Following the death of the former President Roh Moo-hyun, Kim began his lawyer career in order to fight against the prosecution, as he believed the former President was victimised by the "absolute" prosecution's investigation.[8] He was a member of the Committee for Juvenile Protection of the Ministry of Justice from 2012 to 2015 and was also a court-appointed assistant of Seoul Family Court from 2014 to 2016.[1] [2]
See also: 2020 South Korean legislative election. On 7 February 2020, Kim was brought into the ruling Democratic Party along with Kim Yong-min.[9] On 18 February, he declared to run for Gangseo 1st constituency at the upcoming general election and therefore he planned to formally announce his bid at the National Assembly Proceeding Hall.[10] However, he suddenly cancelled the plan,[10] somehow people suggested that he did flip-flop on his earlier decision.[4] Soon, he posted on Facebook that he had confirmed to run for the election.[11]
Gangseo 1st, where currently being held by Keum Tae-seop, who had criticised the former Justice Minister Cho Kuk.[4] As Kim holds pro-Cho Kuk views,[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] various newspapers often used the term "Cho vs Anti-Cho" should a preselection between 2 of them is carried out.[3] [4] [5] Keum accused Kim for making the election as "defending the ex-Justice Minister".[6] [7] Kim then reacted that Keum was urging him to not stand for the election.[12] On 21 February, the Democratic Party brought a decision to have a preselection that excludes Kim.[13] Nevertheless, Keum lost to Kang Sun-woo, in which the result was regarded as "shocking".[14] Kim, instead, was nominated to Ansan Danwon 2nd.[15]
On 13 April 2020, Park Soon-ja, the MP for Ansan Danwon 2nd as well as one of the competitors to Kim, has revealed a record of a 18+ podcast where Kim used to appear from January to February 2019.[16] [17] From the record, some guests were speaking offensive words, such as "Have you ever fxxk with your husband at his home?", "suck your mum's dxxk", "such a big boob like head", "Criollos are damn good" and so on, though all of these were never mentioned by Kim himself.[18] Park, did not just condemn Kim, but the entire Democratic Party for "not having a proper mind in sex issues".[16] She then urged him to resign his candidacy as soon as possible, as well as his party to sincerely apologise.[16] The Justice Party also harshly denounced and advised him to make an apology.[17] Chin Jung-kwon, also accused him by connecting with Nth room case.[19] [20] Kim then revealed, "I was not an emcee; I just attended as a guest because I'm not good in love. But it was so helpless and too offensive. That's why I quit."[17] He also added that Park was connecting the controversy to the Nth room case in order to "overturn the situation".[17] In the end, he expressed his regret.[17]
The next day, he was sued by a civic organization for breaching the Information and Communications Network Act.[21]
On 19 October 2022, Kim Nam Kuk once again stirred public controversy when parliamentary livestream cameras caught a notification alarm for a gay dating app on his personal cellphone. Kim's office strongly denied that the Member of Parliament was outed as a homosexual, but rather Kim was researching the app after hearing about it from a friend. Either way, cellphones are not permitted to be used during parliamentary sessions in the chamber hall.[22]
On 14 May 2023, Kim left the Democratic Party after allegations of using and selling cryptocurrencies while Parliament was in session. Kim was reported in possession of 1.5 billion won (US$1,117,310) worth of cryptocurrencies that he acquired while a member of Parliament. He has cooperated in the investigations.[23]