73% of illegal foreign exchange transactions use 'virtual assets'

Reached 9 trillion won over the past five years

Diverse methods, including tax evasion

About three-quarters of the illegal foreign exchange transactions detected by the Korea Customs Service and handed over to prosecutors over the past five years were carried out using virtual assets such as Tether(USTD) and Bitcoin.

On the 15th, according to data received by Choi Gi-sang, a Democratic Party member of the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee, from the Korea Customs Service, illegal foreign exchange transactions detected by the Customs Service and referred to prosecutors over the past five years (2020~2024) amounted to 12.4349 trillion won. Of these, transactions mediated by virtual assets amounted to 9.0392 trillion won, accounting for 72.7% of the total.

Types of illegal foreign exchange transactions through virtual assets are becoming increasingly diverse. Some receive part of trade payments in virtual assets to evade customs duties and corporate tax, or move dollars abroad under the pretext of covering study abroad expenses and then invest in virtual assets. Tax authorities also suspect there may be cases of using stablecoins to transfer assets abroad to evade inheritance tax.

The government recognized this problem and originally planned to amend the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act in the first half of this year to monitor all virtual assets moving across domestic and international borders. However, discussions were pushed aside as impeachment and an early presidential election dominated the political situation.

Kwang-sik Lee / Hae-ryeon Choi reporters bumeran@hankyung.com