SEOUL-- The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) on Tuesday decided to expel one lawmaker alleged to have engaged in illegal real estate dealings and recommend five others under similar suspicions to leave the party, one day after the state anti-corruption watchdog announced the results of a probe into opposition legislators' past deals.

The party's supreme council decided to expel Rep. Han Moo-kyung, one of the 12 party legislators allegedly suspected of being involved in illegal property deals, after hearing their cases.

Five others -- Reps. Kang Gi-yun, Lee Joo-hwan, Lee Chul-gyu, Jung Chang-min and Choi Chun-sik -- were recommended to give up voluntarily their party memberships.

The decision came a day after the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) said it had identified 13 alleged speculation cases linked to 12 incumbent PPP legislators. The ACRC has delivered its findings to party leaders and a police-led special government investigation team.

The supreme council found the six other lawmakers not requiring disciplinary actions as the cases were not directly connected to the lawmakers themselves or their explanations were deemed as sufficient.

The expulsion of Han, who has a proportional representative seat, will be put to a vote in a general meeting of PPP members. Even if voted out, she will maintain her seat as an independent.

PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok demanded Han and the five lawmakers "actively cooperate" with the ongoing criminal investigation into shady public sector real estate deals.

Of the 12 lawmakers, the suspicions surrounding Rep. Yoon Hee-suk had received particularly heavy attention as she is competing to run in next year's presidential race. Lee said the property was not under Yoon's name, nor did she involve herself in the transaction.

Outside of the PPP, the ACRC on Monday also identified one member of the minor liberal Open Democratic Party with questionable past property transactions. It was Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom, former Cheong Wa Dae spokesman, who resigned over a real estate investment controversy.

Probes into four other minor parties -- the Justice Party, the People's Party, the Basic Income Party and Transition Korea -- did not yield any suspicious cases.

The watchdog said it has looked into past land transactions of a total of 507 people, comprising the lawmakers of six opposition parties and their families. It did not disclose the identities of the lawmakers under suspicion.

The latest probe followed a similar one conducted on members of the DP, in which 12 lawmakers were alleged to have been involved in questionable dealings in the past.

The agency's probe was the latest in a series of government measures that were presented in the wake of a large land speculation scandal involving employees of the state-run Korea Land & Housing Corp. (LH) that shook the nation in March.

In June, the police-led probe reported over 500 suspected public sector land speculation cases to the prosecution for further investigations.

Source: Yonhap News Agency