Law for South Korean officials declare their investments in cryptocurrencies

Chung Dong-yong, a member of the Administrative and Security Committee of the National Assembly of South Korea, introduced a bill to add cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ether and Ripple, to the list of public disclosure articles, according to local media.

He explained that "the current Public Service Ethics law excludes cryptocurrency, which has recently emerged as a means of proliferating property," Suwan News quoted him as saying. The publication added that the legislation was jointly initiated by lawmakers Kwon Eun-hee, Park Joo-hyun, Yoon Young-il, Lee Chan-yeol, Jang Jeong-sook, Chun Jung-bae and Kim Doo-kwan.

The bill amends the Public Services Ethics Act to require officials to declare their cryptocurrency holdings of 10 million won or more (USD 9,350). If officials provide false or misleading information regarding their cryptocurrencies, Chung proposed a sanction and disciplinary action, details Money Today. The Hankyoreh then quoted him saying:

"As the government takes the lead in the regulation of the cryptocurrency, the public sector must lead the transparent disclosure of the proliferation of property through cryptocurrency."

Since the South Korean government announced its cryptocurrency regulatory measures in December, there have been several controversies and signs of discord among officials.

Multiple national petitions have been filed regarding cryptographic regulations, including one entitled "Has the government ever dreamed of seeing the people happy?" At the time of writing this document, 223,055 people have signed this petition. According to the rules established by the Blue House, the government will respond to any request with more than 200,000 signatories.

Recently, the lack of coordination among government departments prompted the Ministry of Justice to announce that it is considering a ban on cryptocurrency trading, followed by other Korean financial regulators that distance themselves from that viewpoint.

Last week, some employees of the Financial Supervision Service (FSS) were accused of privileged information about the knowledge of the cryptocurrency regulations. The agency is investigating the case. However, according to lawyer Yang Ji Min, "there is no legal provision for punishment," since cryptocurrency is not currently a financial product, Yonhap reported.

Meanwhile, Representative Ha Tae-keung submitted evidence that the government's 40-minute embargo procedure led to market manipulation, as previously reported. Tae-keung suggested: "The government has to deal with the embargo officer and find out who leaked it," the Korea economic daily quoted him as saying. The Office of the Prime Minister has denied any allegation of deliberate leakage of information.

The Hankyoreh quoted Chung as saying :

"We need to investigate if we have obtained unfair profits and disclose the status of our assets."

The issue of regulation in South Korea remains an uncertainty, investors and enthusiasts remain concerned and trying to make their voices heard so that the government does not ban the cryptocurrency trade. If the same people manage to change the government's regulatory decision, this would mean a great advance for the ecosystem and probably suppose a recovery in the value of the market.