One of the men that lead Seoul’s clampdown on cryptocurrencies has been found dead in his home, at the age of 52. Jung Ki-joon, the head of economic policy at the Office for Government Policy Coordination was reported to have died of a heart attack while sleeping on Sunday.
South Korea has been at the heart of regulation discussions globally recently, especially following speculation that there was an impending ban incoming, which turned out not to be true.
Since November, the country has stepped up its efforts to regulate the popular cryptocurrency ecosystem that has grown in South Korea. In November, 2017 South Korea’s government started weekly meetings of vice ministers to regulate cryptocurrency operations.
Extreme pressure
Ki-joon was in charge of integrating opinions of different ministries and offices for meetings headed by Hong Nam-ki, minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination.
It was noted that the deceased official was under immense pressure due to the importance of the job, being in charge of regulations development against cryptocurrency speculation, and its relevance in South Korea.
There has been an investigation into the death, but the initial belief is that there was no foul play and that it was natural.
No ban coming from South Korea
After the South Korean Public banded together,signing a petition with over 220,000 signatures, the government response to fears of a ban in early January.
In a released statement, Hong Nam-ki declared that there would be no cryptocurrency trading ban. However, he emphasized that: “the government is still divided with many opinions ranging from an outright ban on cryptocurrency trading to bringing the institutions that handle the currency into the system.”