South Korea Court Sentences Crypto Exchange Employee to 4 Years for Accepting Bitcoin From North Korea to Recruit Officers and Steal Military Secrets

The Supreme Court of South Korea ruled in a case involving a cryptocurrency exchange employee who accepted Bitcoin from North Korea and pressured a South Korean officer to disclose military secrets. The defendant received four years’ imprisonment and a four-year ban from the financial sector, signaling a firm stance on crypto-enabled threats to national security.

Investigators say North Korea-linked hackers paid about 487,000 in Bitcoin to recruit active-duty officers; the Army captain received roughly 33,500 in Bitcoin. The court said the actions targeted a hostile state and threatened national security, driven by financial motives. Evidence shows Telegram communications and a concealed camera disguised as a watch, plus a USB intrusion device to harvest credentials for the South Korea-U.S. joint command-control system. The captain had earlier been sentenced to 10 years; the employee was convicted under the National Security Act.