A leading Japanese daily says Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan received illegal political funds from a South Korean national.

The Asahi Shimbun said Friday that Kan received the equivalent of around 13-and-a-half million won between 2006 and 2009 from a South Korean national who lives in Japan and who used to serve as an executive at a financial firm. The total was around 12-thousand-500 U.S. dollars.

Japanese law strictly bans lawmakers from receiving political donations from foreigners. If politicians are found to have received such funds knowingly, they could be sentenced to up to three years in prison or face fines of up to 500-thousand yen, or around six-thousand U.S. dollars.

The report comes shortly after former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara stepped down from office last Sunday after he was found to have received illegal political funds from a Korean Japanese.