Senior officials also invest in virtual assets… top holder is 'Kim Nam-kuk'

Uk Jin

Summary

According to disclosures by the Government Public Officials Ethics Committee, 13 senior officials at the Presidential Office and central ministries said they hold virtual assets, including bitcoin (BTC).
Former Blue House Secretary for Digital Communication Kim Nam-kuk said he holds about 80 types of virtual assets—including Aave (AAVE), Kaia (KAIA) and Solana (SOL)—worth a total of 1.217 billion won.
Bae Jin-kyo, Secretary for Public Listening, holds bitcoin (BTC), Cardano (ADA), XRP (XRP) and Pepe (PEPE) worth about 3.3 million won, while the virtual asset holdings of other senior officials and their spouses were mostly small.

An increasing number of senior public officials are being found to invest in virtual assets (cryptocurrencies).

According to the ad hoc asset disclosure data (No. 1) for 2026 released via the Official Gazette on the 30th (Korea time) by the Government Public Officials Ethics Committee, 13 senior officials at the Presidential Office and central government ministries reported holding virtual assets such as bitcoin (BTC) directly or indirectly.

The largest holder of virtual assets was former Blue House Secretary for Digital Communication Kim Nam-kuk. Kim holds some 80 types of virtual assets in total, including Aave (AAVE), Kaia (KAIA) and Solana (SOL), with the value of his digital asset holdings based on actual transaction prices at 1.217 billion won.

Bae Jin-kyo, Secretary for Public Listening, was found to hold bitcoin (BTC), Cardano (ADA), XRP (XRP) and Pepe (PEPE), among others. The reported value is about 3.3 million won.

Others who reported holding virtual assets include ▲Park Seon-a, Secretary for National Archives, ▲the spouse of Lee Won-jae, Secretary for SMEs and Startups, ▲the spouse of Kim Chang-seop, third deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, and ▲the spouse of Bang Yong-seung, secretary general of the National Unification Advisory Council. Most of their holdings were relatively small.