South Korea requests Interpol to assist with Do Kwon’s extradition

South Korea’s National Police Agency has requested Interpol’s assistance in bringing back Terraform Labs co-founder Kwon Do-hyeong in a written letter on Thursday, a police representative told The Block. 

The police agency sent the request via an electronic document to the Interpol’s General Secretariat, but has yet to hear back from Interpol, the police spokesperson said. South Korea’s Ministry of Justice is also separately requesting help from Interpol, local news agency Newsis reported.

Earlier this month, a Montenegrin court revoked Kwon’s extradition order to the U.S., after his defense attorneys filed an appeal, reportedly claiming that the decision was made on misinformation that the U.S. requested extradition ahead of South Korea. 

“The event of Do Kwon’s extradition to the U.S. being brought back for another court decision gave [us] the opportunity to again request assistance and attention,” the police spokesperson told The Block. “Since the Interpol, as an international law enforcement agency, maintains a cooperative relationship with its entity in Montenegro, we wanted to reiterate the fact that South Korea requested [Kwon’s] extradition first, ahead of the U.S.”

The police representative noted that the Korean agency has no direct influence over the extradition decision in Montenegro. 

The former leader of Terraform Labs has been sought by U.S. and South Korean authorities for fraud charges stemming from the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022 — which wiped out some $40 billion of investor wealth in a few days.

Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro last March, charged with using a fake passport in an attempt to leave the country, and was sentenced to four months in November. 

On multiple occasions, Kwon has denied the accusations that he and Terraform Labs deliberately defrauded investors.

(Updated the piece with comments from the police and additional details throughout.)