South Korea’s Ruling Party Calls to Expedite Bill on Lawmakers’ Crypto Disclosures: Report

The parliamentary floor leader of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party wants a new bill requiring lawmakers and high-level government officials to declare their cryptocurrency-related assets to take effect within two months, earlier than originally planned, according to a Tuesday report by Yonhap news agency.

The original bill, currently being finalized in the wake of allegations made against an opposition party politician, had been scheduled for implementation in December but, in remarks to reporters, Yun Jae-ok said it should be amended to bring forward the enforcement date to within one or two months from now.

“Given the current high level of public interest, especially regarding lawmakers, it’s not appropriate to enforce the law six months later after the promulgation,” Yun said, according to the report. Yun reportedly said he had asked the leader of the Public Administration Committee to propose a modified version of the law, on which a vote is scheduled for Friday.

Earlier this month, independent lawmaker Rep. Kim Nam-kuk, previously with the opposition Democratic Party of Korea, was reported to local prosecutors by South Korea’s financial watchdog for a series of crypto transactions deemed suspicious. Kim, who had previously co-sponsored a provision to defer taxation on virtual digital assets, said he did not cash out his tokens and did not violate any laws.

Yun also alleged that Kim cashed 250 million won ($189,942) worth of coins in February and March last year, a far larger amount than the 4.4 million won ($3,342) that Kim had earlier said he cashed at the time, the report said.