South Korean CEX Employee Receives Bitcoin Bribe to Leak Military Secrets to North Korea, Sentenced to 4 Years

BlockBeats News, December 30th, the Supreme Court of South Korea ruled that an employee of a cryptocurrency exchange, who received Bitcoin funds from North Korea, orchestrated and induced a South Korean officer to sell military secrets, has been sentenced to 4 years in prison and prohibited from engaging in the financial industry for 4 years.

The court found that North Korean hackers paid the cryptocurrency exchange employee about $487,000 in Bitcoin to "recruit" active-duty South Korean officers; a involved Army captain received about $33,500 in Bitcoin. The judge pointed out that the defendant was well aware that the behavior involved a hostile country, the actions could jeopardize national security, and were driven by personal financial motives.

The captain had previously been sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $35,000 for violating the "Military Secrets Protection Act," while the exchange employee was convicted of violating the "National Security Act."

The case revealed that the individuals involved had contacted officers through a Telegram chat room and provided a concealed camera disguised as a watch and a USB intrusion device, attempting to steal login information for the South Korea-U.S. joint command control system.