South Korean lawmaker Kim Nam-guk has been found not guilty of hiding his crypto assets, as the court decided he was not bound by law to reveal virtual holdings at that time. On February 10, 2025, Judge Jeong Woo-Yong of the 9th Criminal Division at the Seoul Southern District Court announced the ruling, dismissing claims that Kim had obstructed public duty through deceit.
The court ruled that virtual assets were not seen as registered items under South Korea’s Public Service Ethics Act. This meant Kim did not have to list them in his asset reports. This decision comes as South Korea steps up its fight against crypto crimes.
The Ministry of Justice is working to make its Joint Investigation Unit for Virtual Assets (JIU) a permanent group, giving it more power and means to protect crypto users, including players of crypto casinos online. The ex-member of the Democratic Party faced claims of hiding crypto gains.
South Korea put into place the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Travel Rule, which requires the disclosure of crypto information. Prosecutors argued that he deliberately misled the National Assembly’s Ethics Committee about his total wealth, sparking worries about possible conflicts of interest in finance laws.
They asked for a six-month jail term, claiming that Kim listed his total assets as $834,000 (1.2 billion won) in 2021, even though he had almost $6.8 million (9.9 billion won) in crypto. Prosecutors said he moved money between his bank and crypto accounts right before the December 31, 2024, deadline to align with reports from the previous year.
‘At the time, virtual assets were not registered assets according to the Public Service Ethics Act. Even if the National Assembly’s Committee on Ethics for Public Officials could not accurately determine the actual total assets, it is not easy to see that its review authority was obstructed by deceit’, Judge Jeong said, dismissing the prosecution’s case.
However, Judge Jeong did not fully clear Kim, noting that his asset reports had ‘inadequate or inaccurate’ details. Kim has denied any fault, but worries grow about whether his crypto investments conflicted with his role in lawmaking, especially since he had backed a delay on a 20% tax on crypto gains.
South Korean Local Crypto Market Booms Ahead Of Others
As Bitcoin (BTC) stays above $97,000 worldwide, virtual currency enthusiasts in South Korea face a high price of $101,479 per unit—a gap caused by local factors.
This ongoing premium, noted by cryptoquant.com since mid-January 2025, shows a special system in the country.
Strict capital rules and complex finance laws limit cross-border trading, keeping a steady difference between local and global exchange rates. Adding to this trend, South Korea’s strong desire for crypto pushes demand to levels not seen in other places, making local BTC prices always higher than global rates.
The economic dance here is clear: limited supply meets strong demand, creating a market where premiums flourish like nowhere else. As of February 10, 2025, an archived snapshot shows BTC’s global price at $97,282, but on South Korea’s Upbit exchange, it stands at $101,479, showing a 4.31% price gap.
Data from cryptoquant.com shows this difference has grown in recent weeks, turning into a notable market oddity. On February 5, 2025, the premium hit 8.32%, the highest level not seen since mid-April 2024, surprising crypto enthusiasts, including players at crypto casinos online.
