According to the April 2020 FATF assessment, there is effective information sharing and inter-agency cooperation in South Korea, both formally and informally.

Updated: October 31, 2020

The South Korean Government has introduces a law that prevents virtual asset money laundering. Also, the latest FATF report of South Korea (April 2020) is really positive and on page 9, n 27, of the executive summary of the report there is a useful summary of the current Beneficial Ownership transparency situation in South Korea.

Updated: April 30, 2020

According to the OECD phase 4 report "Korea has made some efforts to address issues relating to “beneficial ownership”. Although Korea has not adopted a system of beneficial owners’ registry, the revised Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act provides since March 2016 that listed companies must maintain a roster of beneficial shareholders through a transfer agent and report the information on shareholders and related persons with not less than 5% of the total number of stocks to the Financial Services Commission and the Korea Exchange, which disclose the information to the general public through their websites. " This commitment is at risk of slipping into 'inactive/overdue'.

Peer reviewer: 1

Updated: October 30, 2019

On beneficial ownership transparency reform, Transparency International Korea states: "However, in order to implement the system introduced by the Candlelight spirit and achieve economic justice, we have to prevent usage of illegal and borrowed names. This is directly related to South Korea’s status and credibility in the international community, and its national competitiveness. In addition, this can play an important role in recovering the citizens’ trust through eradicating the widespread distrust of the upper class in the society."

Peer reviewer: Transparency International Korea

Updated: May 30, 2019

It is now required in South Korea for financial institutions to identify the beneficial ownership of customers. And in the report from TI-S "TI G20 Leaders or Laggards", on page 41 it shows their G20 score on transparency of financial institutions has increased from 31% in 2015 to 50% in 2017. There does seem to be a lot of gaps though, as overall in the G20 beneficial ownership report, South Korea is deemed as having a ‘weak framework’.

Updated: October 30, 2018