Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eok-won said on the 28th that the travel rule, known as the real-name system for coins, will be expanded to transactions below 1 million won.

He said this at the Financial Intelligence Unit’s event marking the 19th Anti-Money Laundering Day, adding that authorities will sternly crack down on money laundering using virtual asset trading.

Domestic virtual asset exchanges must collect information such as the names and wallet addresses of senders and recipients when they receive requests for deposits or withdrawals of virtual assets over 1 million won under the travel rule. The plan aims to block laundering attempts that seek to bypass this requirement.

He also stressed that trading virtual assets with high-risk offshore exchanges will not be allowed.

He said people with criminal records involving drugs or tax evasion will not be able to become major shareholders of virtual asset service providers.

He also said the system will be revised to check financial conditions and social credit requirements during the registration review of virtual asset service providers. The FIU will introduce a pre‑emptive account freeze system to prevent suspected criminal funds from leaving accounts during investigations.

He said the measure will limit the target crimes to serious offenses such as drugs and gambling to minimise side effects and inconvenience to the public.

The government plans to announce the plan in the first half of next year and submit an amendment to the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information to the National Assembly. It also plans to strengthen the FIU’s capacity to ensure early settlement of the system.

It will also strengthen international cooperation to respond to money laundering crimes.

It will build a cooperation framework with Southeast Asian FIUs and prepare joint response measures against international cyber fraud and terror financing, using next year’s FATF ministerial meeting as an opportunity. It will also cooperate with related bodies so lawyers, accountants and tax accountants can establish anti-money laundering systems.

Yonhap News Agency.

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