"Kwon Do-hyeong on the Run Hiding in a 2.9 Billion Won Luxury Apartment in Serbia"

Serbian Media Report: Presumed Residence with Close Associate Hanchangjun

Local media reported that Kwon Do-hyung, the key figure in the 'Terra·Luna crash incident,' hid in a luxury apartment in neighboring Serbia before being captured in Montenegro.

Key Figure Kwon Do-hyung in the 'Terra·Luna Crash Incident' [Image Source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Serbian outlet Nova reported on the 6th (local time) that Kwon purchased a duplex luxury apartment in the affluent Dedinje neighborhood of the capital Belgrade and lived there for several months. After checking the registration documents, the outlet revealed that the apartment was bought by Kwon's close associate Han Chang-jun, Terraform Labs' Chief Financial Officer (CFO), for 2 million euros. At the current exchange rate, this amounts to approximately 2.93 billion KRW.

The period during which Kwon and Han lived there coincided with their inclusion on the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) red notice list. In addition to the apartment, Kwon and Han also purchased two parking spaces.

Another Serbian media outlet, DL News, reported that when they showed photos of Kwon and Han to a local resident, the resident said they had seen them before. The outlet focused on their lifestyle and expressed doubts about whether Serbian authorities had the will to track and arrest Kwon. The media sent a written inquiry to the Serbian police regarding Kwon's stay in Belgrade but received no response.

Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, left for Singapore in April 2022, just before the Terra·Luna crash incident, and then disappeared. He subsequently traveled through the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Serbia before entering Montenegro. On March 23 of last year, he was arrested at a local airport along with Han while attempting to board a charter flight to Dubai, UAE, after a forged passport was detected. Kwon was sentenced to four months in prison for using a forged passport and was released on March 23 after serving his sentence, after which he was transferred to a foreign detention center.

With the decision to extradite Kwon from Montenegro to South Korea overturned, Kwon is desperately trying to be extradited to South Korea rather than the United States.