The financial authorities will introduce a system that allows the immediate suspension of suspicious accounts related to serious crimes that harm people's livelihoods, such as drugs and gambling, without a court decision. The travel rule (verification of sender and recipient information), which had applied only to domestic exchange transactions of 1 million won or more, will be expanded to transactions under 1 million won.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission held the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Policy Advisory Committee on Feb. 5 and announced the 2026 AML key work plan.
The FIU said new criminal methods, including transnational crimes, continue to emerge, and explained that it will supplement the limitations of the existing AML system and strengthen management capabilities. First, the FIU will introduce a system to suspend accounts suspected of crime. It will amend the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information to allow the FIU, in response to requests from investigative agencies, to decide to suspend accounts for certain serious crimes that harm people's livelihoods, such as drugs, gambling, and terrorist financing. Currently, even for accounts suspected of being related to criminal proceeds, except for some cases such as voice phishing, accounts cannot be frozen without a court decision.
The FIU explained that, in the early stage of the system, account suspensions will be applied only when requested by investigative agencies, and that it is also considering a plan to request account suspensions from financial companies based on its own analysis in the future. To prevent unfair harm, it will also put in place a prompt mechanism for lifting suspensions.
The scope of designation for those subject to restrictions on financial transactions, currently limited to individuals related to terrorism and nuclear proliferation, will be expanded to international criminal organizations, and a legal basis will be established.
The travel rule, known as the "coin real-name system," will also be expanded. The travel rule, which had applied only to domestic exchange transactions of 1 million won or more, will be expanded to small transactions, and stablecoin issuers will also be subject to anti-money-laundering obligations. When transacting stablecoins with personal wallets or overseas operators, obligations will be imposed to verify customers or to take response measures based on a risk-based approach.
An FIU official said, "We will prepare amendment bills for the tasks requiring legal revisions within the first half of the year and submit them to the National Assembly, and we will push ahead quickly with amendments to subordinate statutes, such as enforcement decrees, within the first half."