On November 21, 2019, a subcommittee of the National Assembly’s National Policy Committee passed a resolution on the Proposed Partial Amendment to the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information (the “Proposed Partial Amendment”).  The major changes included in the Proposed Partial Amendment are anti-money laundering (“AML”) requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges and other virtual asset service providers.  The National Policy Committee itself subsequently passed the Proposed Partial Amendment on November 25, 2019.  The Legislation and Judiciary Committee will review the Proposed Partial Amendment for its structure and wording and send it to the plenary session of the National Assembly for resolution.  If the political parties come to an agreement relatively quickly at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the National Assembly may possibly pass the Proposed Partial Amendment on November 29, 2019, but we would need to continuously monitor the plenary session of the National Assembly.  If the National Assembly passes the Proposed Partial Amendment at the plenary session, it will then be transferred to the Executive Branch within two weeks, and the Executive Branch will promulgate the Proposed Partial Amendment within 15 days after the transfer date unless the Executive Branch raises any objections.  The details of the Proposed Partial Amendment are provided below.¹ 
 

• Reporting Requirements for Virtual Asset Service Providers

Those professionally engaged in (i) sale and purchase of virtual assets; (ii) exchange of virtual assets²; (iii) mediation or arrangement of (i) and (ii); and (iv) storage or management of virtual assets (“Virtual Asset Service Providers”) must report the company name, the representative’s name, the location of the business place, and contact information to the Commissioner of the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (“FIU”) in advance and have the report accepted by the FIU³.  Failure to report will result in criminal punishment of imprisonment of up to five years or a fine of up to KRW 50 million (app. USD 43,000). 

Meanwhile, the FIU may refuse to accept reports from the following persons: 

A.    A person who has failed to be certified by the Information Security Management System (“ISMS”);
B.    A person who has not engaged in financial transactions using a verified real name deposit⁴ and withdrawal account⁵; 
C.    A person for whom five years have not elapsed since being sentenced to punishment of not less severe than a fine and the completion or expiration of the term of said sentence pursuant to the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, the Act on Prohibition against the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, and other finance laws and regulations set forth by the presidential decree (including representatives and executives); and 
D.    A person for whom five years have not elapsed since the report was cancelled ex officio for failing to meet the requirements specified in A, B, and C above. 

In addition, the FIU may cancel reports that have been accepted ex officio when there are grounds for non-acceptance above.⁶ 
 

• AML Requirements for “Virtual Asset Service Providers”

As with other financial institutions, “Virtual Asset Service Providers” will be subject to various AML requirements, including suspicious transaction report (“STR”), currency transaction report (“CTR”), and customer due diligence (“CDD”), and will be required to set up an internal control system to fulfill such requirements in good faith and to separately manage transaction details by customer. 
 

• Expanded CDD on Financial Companies

In addition to the existing CDD items, a financial company must ensure that a Virtual Asset Service Provider has satisfied requirements for acceptance of report and the requirement to separately manage deposits from customers and its own property, among others.  Furthermore, a financial company must refuse or terminate transactions with the Virtual Asset Service Provider if it does not have a valid report, an ISMS certification, a real name deposit and withdrawal account, or is otherwise unqualified.   
 

The Proposed Partial Amendment is significant in that it would bring the domestic cryptocurrency market, which has not been regulated, into the regulatory framework and promote sound market order.  However, as the Proposed Partial Amendment subjects cryptocurrency service providers to the full AML requirements, the service providers would have to be prepared to implement an AML system as required by the Proposed Partial Amendment while, at the same time, strengthening efforts to monitor progress in the subsequent amendment of the laws and the presidential decrees (including terms of opening real name account).