South Korea, US Agree to Boost Cooperation on Anti-Money Laundering in Asia-Pacific

SEOUL, April 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States have agreed on enhancing cooperation to fight money laundering activities in the Asia-Pacific region, Seoul's financial regulator said Monday. Earlier this week, Lee Hyung-ju, commissioner of the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), met Andrea Gacki, director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in Washington, according to the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The KoFIU is under the FSC, which is tasked with countering money laundering, the financing of terrorism and other illegal financial activities. During the meeting, Lee said the two countries should bolster transnational cooperation in fighting money laundering activities in the Asia-Pacific region, pointing to online scams in some Southeast Asian countries involving Korean nationals. In particular, anti-money laundering crackdown efforts should be implemented in cooperation with the private sector for early detections, the regulator said. In response, Gacki said South Korea is an important strategic partner and agreed to raise information exchanges between the two agencies to crack down on various forms of unlawful activities, according to the FSC.