[South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service Plans to Restrict High-Interest Microloans for Active-Duty Military Personnel This Year to Address Excessive Debt Risks Caused by Cryptocurrencies and Online Gambling] According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced today that it will collaborate with the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the banking industry to advance several new regulations for financial consumer protection. These include finalizing standard business guidelines by the end of the year to comprehensively restrict microfinance institutions (especially large-scale lending) from issuing ordinary credit loans to active-duty military personnel. Data shows that the loan volume to active-duty military personnel from the top 30 lending institutions registered with the FSC has surged from 350 million won at the end of 2022 to 24.2 billion won (approximately US$17 million) at the end of 2025. South Korean regulators pointed out that some active-duty military personnel blindly invest borrowed funds in high-risk investments such as virtual assets (cryptocurrencies) and online gambling, which is one of the main reasons for excessive debt.