The minister-designate for the Ministry of the SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun has been a strong supporter of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Rep. Park of the governing Democratic Party made positive statements on the blockchain and cryptocurrencies in January last year at the inaugural ceremony of the Korea Blockchain Association.

She openly urged the government to permit the initial coin offerings. She opposed the forcible closure of the cryptocurrency exchanges in January last year. Once the government shut down the crypto exchanges, the capital exodus will take place as Korean investors would use overseas exchanges and the domestic exchanges would go offshore.

She also said the shutdown of the exchanges would retard the development of blockchain technologies and other technologies related to cryptocurrency. Park said the government could no longer control the digital asset market arbitrarily.

She stated the pro-cryptocurrency statement after Justice Minister Park Sang-ki described the crypto exchanges as casinos in January last year when cryptocurrency investment boom swept the country. Rep. Park urged the justice minister ‘not to burn a house to catch lice.’

The designate had said Korea should be the advancement base for the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, including blockchain.
She urged the government to define the cryptocurrency and allow the trading and tax the income on cryptocurrency investment.

It is still unclear whether her view as a lawmaker would become policies, many blockchain developers said. A Seoul developer said, “We welcome her appointment as the minister for the startups.”