In a chilling narrative harking back to a Okay-drama, the once-underground world of cryptocurrency in South Korea has taken a ugly flip, intertwining with espionage, a billion-won dispute, and a tragic homicide. Lee Kyung-woo, a former purported spy turned hitman, was sentenced to life in jail in October for orchestrating a criminal offense that has despatched shockwaves by way of a rustic recognized for its security and low incidence of violent crimes.
The story unfolds like a dramatic plotline: a pair, who confronted substantial losses within the collapsed cryptocurrency PURE, sought the providers of Lee Kyung-woo to hunt revenge towards the lady they believed led them astray of their investments. PURE, based mostly within the Seychelles and managed by a Korean at the moment going through authorized troubles, grew to become the epicenter of a crypto dispute that will culminate in a heinous crime.
For a price of 70 million gained, Lee orchestrated the kidnapping and homicide of the lady who had inspired the couple’s funding in PURE. On March 29, 2023, the sufferer was kidnapped from the upscale Gangnam district of Seoul, administered medicine, pressured to disclose her crypto passwords, and finally killed. Her lifeless physique was then clandestinely buried within the countryside, 140 kilometers from the South Korean capital.
The stunning particulars reveal that the ketamine used to sedate and terminate the sufferer’s life got here from Lee’s spouse, a nurse at a cosmetic surgery clinic. Astonishingly, court docket paperwork obtained by AFP point out that Lee’s spouse was conscious of his legal intentions however nonetheless equipped the lethal substance.
Choose Kim Seung-jeong of the Seoul Central District Court docket expressed the profound tragedy of the sufferer’s ordeal within the ruling, stating, “It’s troublesome to estimate the worry and ache the sufferer will need to have felt when she was abruptly kidnapped by strangers in the midst of Seoul… and dragged to the hills close to Daejeon to die.”
The incident shines a light-weight on South Korea’s troubled relationship with cryptocurrency, a rustic as soon as hailed as a crypto hotspot. Latest upheavals, together with the high-profile downfall of crypto tycoon Do Kwon, have prompted official scrutiny and considerations about rising criminality within the trade. To handle these points, native authorities established a brand new inter-agency investigative unit earlier this 12 months to fight crypto-related crimes.
Hitman Lee, who suffered monetary setbacks in the course of the pandemic, invested his life financial savings in PURE, solely to witness its worth plummet by 95 % in early 2021. Court docket paperwork reveal Lee’s desperation to amass wealth by “any means vital,” main him to resort to legal actions.
Lee’s doubtful claims of being a former navy agent for North Korean missions, in addition to his willingness to have interaction in unlawful strategies, additional emphasize the darkish underbelly of a crypto trade entangled with espionage and violent crime in South Korea.
