From January to May of this year, the cumulative amount of illegal foreign exchange transactions reached 415.4 billion won. In response, the government has taken a firm stance against companies that excessively pay import fees without proper reporting or ignore export payments they should receive.
On June 10, the Ministry of Finance held a meeting of the intergovernmental task force on illegal foreign exchange transactions, announcing plans to expand investigations into such activities. The meeting focused on the current status of illegal foreign exchange transactions that disrupt market stability and future plans for monitoring.
The government had previously launched the task force on January 15, pledging to monitor the legality of export companies' transactions. Since then, the Korea Customs Service has been conducting foreign exchange inspections targeting illegal transactions that exploit high exchange rates. Companies with significant trade and foreign exchange volumes over the past five years, particularly those with large discrepancies between reported export/import amounts and actual payments, are under scrutiny. As of last month, inspections had been conducted on 38 companies, leading to the discovery of 415.4 billion won in illegal transactions.
Additionally, the National Intelligence Service recently uncovered a case where a company disguised client funds as trade payments to illegally transfer won overseas and then brought back virtual assets purchased abroad to cash out in won.
The task force plans to increase investigations into illegal foreign exchange transactions through cooperation among relevant agencies. It will particularly focus on companies that make early payments for imports without proper reporting and delay receiving export payments. Companies that excessively pay import fees or evade export payments through false transactions may face strict penalties.
Alternative payment methods, such as remittance through virtual assets instead of banks, will also be targeted for sanctions. Furthermore, the task force will intensively investigate acts of asset flight abroad, planning to take action in accordance with the law if violations are detected. Finally, the task force, initially set to operate until the first half of this year, will now be established as a permanent entity.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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