Kim Nam-kuk, a member of South Korea’s National Assembly, reportedly liquidated more than $4 million worth of crypto prior to lawmakers in the country enforcing the Financial Action Task Force’s ‘Travel Rule’.
According to a May 8 report from The Korea Times, authorities with Korea Financial Intelligence Unit areKim for trading roughly 6 billion won — $4.5 million — in crypto assets before South Korea introduced the Travel Rule in March 2022. The lawmaker reportedly said he did not cash out the assets but rather transferred them to another exchange, also claiming he was not required to report such activity.
As a member of South Korea’s National Assembly, Kim had some authority in handling laws related to digital assets, reportedly backing legislationbe deferred from 2023 to 2025. Kim has reportedly denied any potential conflicts of interest between handling crypto assets in his portfolio and ruling on them as a lawmaker.
"This is a serious moral hazard," said Hong Joon-pyo, mayor of the city of Daegu. “He should have left his job as a lawmaker and focused on speculative trading instead. On top of that, he stood at the forefront of delaying crypto taxation, which can be seen as an abuse of his legislative power for the protection of his private assets."from investing in stocks and potentially digital assets. At the time of publication, U.S.