China Dominates Korea's Virtual Asset Hawala Scene Ahead of Taxation
South Korean authorities have detected 177 hawala cases totaling 1.8 trillion won since 2018, with virtual asset hawala accounting for about half of these cases and two-thirds of the total amount.
Among foreign suspects caught in these cases, 80% were Chinese nationals, with 27 out of 34 detected foreign suspects being from China.
The Korea Customs Service is concerned that imposing taxes on virtual assets next year without proper preparation could increase hawala crimes, as a trend of virtual assets flowing overseas to avoid taxes has already appeared.
Rep. Park Soo-young of the People Power Party raised concerns about the effectiveness of the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) in responding to virtual asset hawala, particularly given China and Hong Kong's non-participation in CARF.