A staff member of a Korean CEX accepted Bitcoin bribes to turn military officers and leak secrets to North Korea, sentenced to 4 years in prison

On December 30, the Supreme Court of South Korea ruled that an employee of a cryptocurrency trading platform was sentenced to 4 years in prison for accepting Bitcoin funds provided by North Korea, and was banned from engaging in financial-related industries for 4 years. The court found that North Korean hackers paid the employee approximately $487,000 worth of Bitcoin to “recruit” active-duty Korean military officers; the involved Army captain received about $33,500 worth of Bitcoin. The judge pointed out that the defendant was aware that the actions involved an enemy state, and that the related conduct could jeopardize national security, motivated by personal economic interests. The captain had previously been sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $35,000 for violating the “Military Secret Protection Act,” while the trading platform employee was convicted of violating the “National Security Act.” The case revealed that the involved personnel had contacted officers through Telegram chat rooms and provided covert cameras disguised as watches and USB intrusion devices in an attempt to steal login information for the Korea-U.S. Combined Command and Control System.