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South Korean man's prison sentence upheld for involvement with North Korean hacker

Published: 14 Nov. 2025, 21:13 Updated: 15 Nov. 2025, 10:27

An illustration of a North Korea hacker. Image is unrelated to the story. [GETTY IMAGES BANK]

A South Korean man who contacted a North Korean hacker to keep an illegal online game server running has failed to avoid prison in his appeal.

The Seoul Western District Court dismissed both the defendant’s and the prosecution’s appeals and upheld the original ruling on Thursday. In December last year, the lower court sentenced the defendant to one year in prison and a one-year suspension of civil rights for violating the National Security Act.

The case stems from November 2013, when stronger security measures on the official server of an online game made it difficult for the defendant to continue operating a private server. Looking for a way to keep his illegal server running, he was introduced to a developer and, starting in January 2014, began paying for software from the developer that bypassed the game’s security system.

Investigators later found that around this time, the defendant learned that the developer was connected to a North Korean hacker. In July 2014, believing the developer’s fees were too high, the defendant visited them in person and asked to deal directly with the North Korean hacker. The developer complied and gave the defendant the online messenger ID of the hacker.

From that point, the defendant began dealing directly with the hacker. Between July 2014 and May 2015, the defendant exchanged multiple messages with the North Korean hacker and received more security-disabling software for which he paid a total of 23.8 million won ($16,300).

The lower court stated that the defendant “communicated with and paid a member of North Korea who was producing and selling illegal programs that could be used for distributed denial-of-service attacks and to raise regime funds, thereby posing a serious threat to national security and public safety.”

While the court noted that the defendant did not show ideological support for North Korea, it criticized him for “pursuing private gain at the expense of national and social security.” However, it also acknowledged the defendant’s cooperation with the investigation and voluntary confession as mitigating factors.

The defendant is reportedly a former executive of a well-known athleisure brand. However, a representative for the company said, “The firm changed ownership a long time ago and he no longer holds any shares. We have no way of confirming his identity ourselves.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]