▲ Rep. Kim Young-joo, deputy speaker of the National Assembly (Yonhap)

DP lawmaker-apology

Assembly deputy speaker apologizes over private text messages during session

SEOUL, July 3 (Yonhap) -- Rep. Kim Young-joo, a deputy speaker of the National Assembly, offered an apology on Monday for exchanging text messages with an acquaintance about travel to Japan during a recent plenary session.

Kim, a four-term lawmaker from the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), was caught on camera discussing a trip to Japan's Hokkaido in her text messages on June 30, when her party railroaded a strongly contested parliamentary resolution urging the government to file a complaint over Japan's plan to release contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

"I apologize to the nation and party members for causing a controversy due to my personal text messages during the (parliamentary) adoption of a resolution against the Fukushima contaminated water," Kim said in a Facebook post.

"Exchanging private text messages during a plenary session is clearly wrong. As a public figure, I'll be more careful in the future," she said.

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