South Korea’s Democratic Party requires parliamentary candidates to reveal crypto holdings

The Democratic Party of Korea has introduced a policy requiring its candidates to disclose their crypto holdings ahead of the 2024 general elections, aiming to enhance transparency and address potential conflicts of interest.

The Democratic Party of Korea, which has a majority in the National Assembly with 167 out of 300 seats, has decided that people who want to run for office in the 2024 general elections must disclose individual crypto holdings. This move is reported by News1 as a way for the party to appeal to high moral standards.

Han Byung-do, who leads the party’s strategy team, said it will check if candidates might have conflicts of interest because of their digital money. If a representative lies about ownership of crypto, they will not be allowed to run for office as a member of the party. Byung-do did not specify the consequences of disclosing crypto ownership up front.

The information about the candidates, along with their work history, education, and plans for making laws, will be put on a website available for mass consumption.

This new rule comes after an issue with Kim Nam-kuk, a member of the same party, as Nam-kuk owned nearly $4.5 million in Wemix tokens, a cryptocurrency made by a South Korean company. Government officials were worried he might use this for his own benefit or even for illegal activities like money laundering, and although he wasn’t kicked out of the National Assembly, he did leave the Democratic Party.

By making candidates share their crypto holdings, the party is trying to be more open and prevent problems like conflicts of interest.