Lee Chang-yong, governor of the Bank of Korea, noted during a press briefing held after the Monetary Policy Committee on the 29th that "the Korean won stablecoin is a substitute for currency" and mentioned that "if non-bank institutions issue them arbitrarily, it could undermine the effectiveness of monetary policy."
The governor stated, "When there is a substitute used in place of currency, if something goes wrong, the trust in the currency payment system drops all at once," and added that "the Bank of Korea should start issuing won-denominated stablecoins from banks where supervision is possible while carrying out monetary policy."
The governor emphasized again that "the won-denominated stablecoin is essentially currency," adding that "leaving the decision to issue it up to financial institutions carries too many risks, so this highlights the role of the Bank of Korea, and it's certainly not an effort to expand its authority."