South Korean Prosecutors Entered The Name Dow Kwon In Interpol's Red Notice, The Hunting Commences
JAKARTA The act of Do Kwon, who disappeared and avoided a judicial hearing in South Korea, has caused law enforcement in the country. All efforts are now being made to present this Terra co-founder at trial.
South Korean prosecutors have reportedly asked Interpol to intervene in their case against Terra coin founder Do Kwon, by issuing a "Red Notice" that advised global law enforcement agencies to try to find and detain him.
According to Monday's report from the Financial Times, Seoul's South District prosecutor's office said it had "started procedures" to put Kwon on Interpol's Red Notice list following steps to revoke Terra's founder's passport while he was in Singapore.
The Interpol website states that Red Notice was asked by authorities to "look for and arrest someone pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action," but the agency cannot force local law enforcement to capture the subject of the notification.
Dear CT - I will tell you what i am doing and where i am if: 1) we are friends2) we have plans to meet3) we are involved in a gps based web3 game Otherwise you have no business knowing my gps coordinates
— Do Kwon 🌕 (@stablekwon) September 17, 2022
"We are doing our best to find and arrest [Kwon]," a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said, as quoted by Cointelegraph. "He was clearly on the run because his company's main financial people also went to the same country during that time."
Kwon continues to be active on social media amid potential arrests and prosecutions. Cointelegraph reported on Sunday September 18 that the Terra co-founder claimed he was "not 'on the run' or something similar but was unable to reveal his location. Even his Twitter account still showed him in Singapore at the time of publication.
Reuters also reported on Saturday, September 17 that authorities in Singapore said Kwon was no longer in the country, after moving there from South Korea in April.
The ongoing story with Kwon and Terra begins in May when the algorithmic stablecoin of the TerraUSD Classic (USTC) project, originally TerraUSD (UST), is down from the US dollar and down nearly zero in a few weeks. The Terra (LUNA) price now Terra Classic (LUNC) is also falling amid liquidity issues reported on platforms including Celsius.
Kwon, and several Terra and the company's employees were targeted by South Korean financial authorities, who reportedly raided the offices of crypto exchanges Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax in July.
On September 14, a South Korean court reportedly issued an arrest warrant for Kwon and five people linked to Terra for allegedly violating capital market laws. However, South Korea does not have an extradition treaty with Singapore.
According to Interpol, currently there are 7,151 people who are publicly mentioned on the agency's Red Notice list of 69,270. At the time of publication, Kwon was not among them and the only South Korean national named was 59-year-old Lee Changhwan, who was sought by Indian authorities.