Six Agencies Including Ministry of Finance and Economy, National Tax Service, and Korea Customs Service Launch Task Force on Illegal Foreign Exchange Transactions

[Financial News] The government is launching a joint task force to crack down intensively on sophisticated illegal foreign exchange transactions such as underground banking, offshore tax evasion, and manipulation of export and import prices.
On the 15th, the Ministry of Finance and Economy announced that, in order to respond strictly to activities that disrupt the foreign exchange market and economic order, it has launched a pan-government task force on illegal foreign exchange transactions together with the National Intelligence Service (NIS), National Tax Service (NTS), Korea Customs Service (KCS), Bank of Korea (BOK), and Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
As illegal foreign exchange transactions have become more complex and sophisticated, there are limits to investigation and enforcement by a single agency, so the relevant authorities are pooling their capabilities to mount a joint response.
The task force on illegal foreign exchange transactions plans to break down silos between agencies and leverage each institution’s expertise to focus on tracing and uncovering cross-border flows of illicit funds.
In particular, the government plans to concentrate its investigations on: so-called underground banking, in which cross-border payments and receipts are made without going through foreign exchange banks; the flight of assets overseas through manipulation of export and import prices and false reporting; and offshore tax evasion and money laundering that exploit foreign exchange transaction procedures.
skjung@fnnews.com Jung Sang-geun Reporter