The government said it uncovered 415.4 billion won worth of illegal foreign exchange transactions from January to May this year. Going forward, the government plans to make crackdowns on illegal foreign exchange transactions that exploit the high exchange rate routine.
On the 10th, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and related ministries announced the results of inspections into illegal foreign exchange transactions by 38 suspected corporations through a meeting of the "illegal foreign exchange transaction task force."
Among the recently uncovered cases was that of company A. Company A was found to have disguised client funds as trade payments to send foreign currency overseas, then purchased virtual assets locally and brought them into Korea to cash out in won. Because this was not an actual import payment, it created dollar-buying demand in the domestic foreign exchange market, which could add pressure on the won to weaken.
A government official said, "We plan to focus on determining whether company A hid overseas assets and forged trade invoices."
Meanwhile, the government plans to make such crackdowns on illegal foreign exchange transactions routine going forward. ▲ Intensive scrutiny will be given to corporations' unlawful early payment of import proceeds or delayed receipt of export proceeds ▲ irregular trade settlements ▲ and acts of spiriting assets overseas.
However, given that the main backdrop to the recent rise in the won-dollar exchange rate lies in continued selling by foreign investors, such as "rebalancing" of Korean stocks, some note that crackdowns on illegal foreign exchange transactions have limits in reversing the exchange-rate trend.