On Wednesday, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on its website that it would invalidate Terra creator Do Kwon’s passport, a move the government first hinted at last month.
According to recent reports, the South Korean government has given Kwon 14 days to submit his passport. His passport will be “administratively invalidated if he does not comply.” According to the notice.
According to local reports, after Kwon did not respond to the return order, the ministry publicly issued an “inability to deliver” notice to Kwon on Wednesday.
If the passport is returned to authorities, Kwon’s passport will be issued after September 13, 2023.
Kwon’s whereabouts are unknown, and he is the subject of an Interpol red notice. Furthermore, the government believed Kwon was still in Singapore. Kwon would be unable to leave South Korea if his passport became invalid. If the founder is not currently in South Korea, he will most likely have difficulty traveling elsewhere.
“Our Department would like to send a ‘Notice of Order for Return of Passport’ to you by registered mail.[…]we inform you that the validity of your passports will be invalidated and administratively invalidated.” the notice warned.
The announcement comes just days after South Korean prosecutors told local media outlets that they had ordered the freezing of nearly $40 million in cryptocurrency assets linked to Kwon.
Terra’s demise caused significant market disruption. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office issued an arrest warrant for Kwon and five others in connection with the US$60 billion Terra-LUNA crash on September 14 this year, accompanied by an Interpol “red notice” and a request to cancel their passports.
Terraform Labs, the Terra ecosystem token issuer, previously stated that the arrest warrant was beyond the scope of prosecutors’ authority, calling the investigation “highly politicized” and alleging violations of basic rights.
