The South Korean National Assembly has passed two legislative amendments to regulate security tokens.

PANews reported on January 15 that, according to Digital Asset, the South Korean National Assembly has passed amendments to the Capital Markets Act and the Electronic Securities Act. This marks the formal establishment of a framework for the issuance and circulation of security tokens (STOs) approximately three years after financial regulators issued relevant guidelines.

The core amendments include the introduction of the distributed ledger concept, allowing issuers meeting certain conditions to directly issue and manage tokenized securities through electronic registration, and establishing a new "Issuance Account Management Institution." Furthermore, atypical securities such as investment contracts will be brought under the regulatory scope of the Capital Markets Act, and their trading in the over-the-counter market will be permitted through the establishment of a new over-the-counter brokerage business. The revised Capital Markets Act will take effect from the date of promulgation. However, provisions related to investment inducement guidelines will take effect six months after promulgation, and provisions related to over-the-counter trading will take effect one year after promulgation.