Crypto-keen Korean Soldiers ‘Gave Loan Sharks Top-secret Passwords as Collateral’
Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...
Several South Korean army officers may have used top-secret military passwords as collateral when borrowing money from loan sharks to buy crypto, media outlets reported on September 23.
The nation’s military Ministry of National Defence said that the unnamed captain was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence in June this year.
He was formally discharged from the military on September 19, the ministry added.
Per the South Korean newspapers Asia Today and News Geongnam, a spokesperson said that Defense Counterintelligence Command officers “became aware of the crime committed by an active-duty captain early this year.”
They charged the captain in a military court in March this year, accusing him of violating the Military Secrets Protection Act.
The captain was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, although his sentence was suspended for four years.
The nation’s intelligence agency is investigating further suspicions that “active-duty officers” in a military unit in Chungcheong used passwords to secure loans to “trade or invest in crypto.”
Local police and prosecutors confirmed they had also launched an investigation. But they said they could not “disclose specific facts about the case.”
Media outlets said there were allegations that “most of the soldiers involved in the incident were officers in their 20s and 30s.”
These soldiers allegedly “urgently wanted” to borrow money “for cryptocurrency trading or investment.”
The military officers were reportedly refused loans when they applied at commercial bank branches.
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