From a Herald Business interview dated January 18, 2018.
"Many take the view that punishing cryptocurrency trading as the opening of a gambling place goes too far. The police are understood to be relying, as the basis for applying the offense of opening a gambling place to cryptocurrency exchanges, on a Supreme Court precedent holding that unlicensed online futures exchanges should be punished.
Attorney Geonho Park of Law Firm Changchun said: 'The precedent the police cite was a case about punishing an unlicensed online futures and options exchange, where money was staked on virtual trades that could not affect actual prices,' adding, 'Cryptocurrency trading, by contrast, involves actual transactions and should be treated as the conclusion of a sale permitted under the Civil Act.' He went on: 'With cryptocurrency, investors trade with one another at prices determined by supply and demand, so the structure is fundamentally different from gambling,' adding, 'Treating something as gambling simply because an element of chance is involved is the wrong approach.'"