The joint response team, comprised of officials from the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the Financial Supervisory Service, and the Korea Exchange, is to detect illegal and unfair trading practices. "We will mark 2025 as the first year of exterminating stock manipulation by showing the wrongdoers how they can lose everything," said FSC Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young at the hanging ceremony of the task force.
"Once caught, they will be hit with penalties that exceed their illegal profits," Kwon added, promising that the team will take firm measures to set order in the capital market.
Before the launch of the joint task force team, responsibilities for responding to unfair trading had been fragmented across several institutions, leading to delays in effective enforcement. The joint task force comes as President Lee Jae-myung holds onto his election promises of boosting fairness and transparency in South Korea’s markets, aiming to crack down on stock price manipulation and implementing a "one-strike-out" rule to deal decisively with major offenders.
Starting October, those caught illegally trading stocks will be charged fines up to twice as much as their unjust gains, and the market monitoring system to be based on individuals rather than trading accounts. The current surveillance system focuses on accounts rather than individuals, making it difficult to pinpoint links between accounts held by the same individuals.
Under a new "one-strike-out" rule, stock manipulators will be shut off from the capital market for up to five years, even disqualifying them from serving as executives at listed companies.
reporter
Kim Dong-young
davekim0807@ajupress.com
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