South Korean Court Upholds Sentence for Crypto Exchange Employee in Espionage Case

According to PANews, the South Korean Supreme Court has upheld a four-year prison sentence for a cryptocurrency exchange employee involved in an espionage case. The employee was found guilty of assisting North Korean hackers in recruiting a South Korean army captain to exchange military secrets for Bitcoin. The employee received $487,000 in Bitcoin from the hackers and paid the captain $33,500 in Bitcoin as compensation. The court ruled that the employee violated the National Security Act, posing a threat to national security. The involved army captain had previously been sentenced to ten years in prison and fined for breaching the Military Secrets Protection Act. Investigations revealed that North Korean hackers instructed the employee to provide the captain with a "watch-shaped hidden camera" and a USB hacking device intended for use on military laptops to remotely access the Korea-U.S. Joint Command Control System, although the attempt was unsuccessful.