South Korean officials traveled to Serbia to find Do Kwon

Published at: Feb. 8, 2023

The hunt for the controversial founder of the now-collapsed Terra ecosystem, Do Kwon, has intensified with South Korean officials reportedly confirming they sent at least two people to Serbia to track him down.

According to a Feb. 7 Bloomberg report, the prosecutor’s office in Seoul said the reports “aren’t false” regarding members of its team trekking out to the Balkan state to find Kwon.

It appears at least two state officials went — one from the prosecutor's office and the other being a senior member of South Korea’s Justice Ministry.

South Korean-based publication Chosun Media confirmed on Dec. 11 that a state intelligence official informed them that Kwon had based himself in Serbia.

There is currently no extradition treaty in effect between South Korea and Serbia.

These factors have likely made Serbia a great hideout spot for Kwon, according to a recent opinion article from Minso Kim — a writer for the South Korean publication Chosun Media.

South Korea has however stripped Kwon of his passport which may make future travel more difficult.

Kwon has been accused of being on the run since Sept. 14 when South Korean prosecutors issued an arrest warrant against him, an accusation that he denied in October.

The 31-year-old fallen entrepreneur has also been accused of breaching capital markets laws.

While Kwon is known to be a prolific tweeter, he went nearly two months without tweeting or retweeting a single post — causing some to speculate what the controversial figure has been up to.

But Kwon recently responded to an evocative tweet targeted at him, stating that he hasn’t stolen any money and has never had any “secret cashouts.”

I find that Twitter is a good place for rumors but poor place to get factsI've stolen no money and never had "secret cashouts" - happy to address specific allegationsIn any case, good day to you

— Do Kwon (@stablekwon) February 1, 2023

To date, Kwon denies any wrongdoing.

Related: Terraform Labs claims case against Do Kwon is ‘highly politicized’: WSJ

The collapse of the Terra ecosystem was in part triggered by the de-peg of its TerraClassicUSD (USTC) algorithmic stablecoin, Terra Classic (LUNC) was closely linked to the stablecoin with that too falling close to 100%.

Approximately $60 billion worth of value was wiped out of the ecosystem.

Cointelegraph reached out to Terraform Labs and the South Korean Prosecutor’s office for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

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