Kim Min-seok, leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 22nd that it is time to begin intensive discussions on whether to proceed with taxing virtual assets as scheduled or to revise the system, pledging to reach a conclusion before the end of the year.
Speaking on the party's official YouTube program "Minti07," Kim said the tax has already been postponed several times and that several questions remain. "Are market conditions sound? What are young people saying? Is the system in place to actually collect the tax?" he said. "For now the policy is to proceed as planned, but voices on this have grown louder and opinions vary widely, so it seems time for an intensive review at this final stage."
The virtual asset tax, introduced in 2020, has had its implementation deferred three times.
Kim also described talks with the government. "Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Lee Hyoung-il came by yesterday, so I told him we should take an interest in this issue, conduct a final review and reach a conclusion," he said. "We need to settle it within this year. Budget discussions are the biggest issue right now, so we will focus on this somewhat."
On calls from the Rebuilding Korea Party and hard-liners within his own party to impeach Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de, Kim remained cautious. "I have pointed out that the chief justice is violating the constitution and the law in many respects, but impeachment requires the consent and agreement of the public," he said. "A parliamentary inquiry has been raised within the party as a preliminary step to build public support, so we will proceed step by step."
Separately, on President Lee Jae-myung's statement that he does not seek punishment in a defamation complaint filed against writer Yoo See-min under the Information and Communications Network Act, Kim said the president likely thought the matter was better resolved through debate than through the law. "Many people probably think the content and wording of Yoo's remarks went too far," he said. "I hope he will observe the limits when offering criticism."