A South Korean court has finalized a one-year prison sentence for an operator of an illegal private server of the online game Lineage, who obtained hacking-related files from a North Korean developer and transferred payment in return.
According to the legal community on April 30, the First Division of the Supreme Court of Korea upheld the lower court ruling, sentencing the defendant, identified only by the surname Oh, to one year in prison and one year of suspended qualifications for violating the National Security Act.
Oh was found to have contacted a North Korean developer known as Eric (North Korean name Oh Sung-hyuk) via the Chinese messaging platform QQ starting in July 2014. He received key executable files necessary to run a private Lineage server and requested fixes for virus-related issues.
The developer is believed to have been affiliated with a trading company under North Korea’s ruling party, reportedly operating an information center that produces and sells illegal software—such as automated gaming programs—that can also be used for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to generate funds for the regime.
The court found that Oh was aware both of the developer’s North Korean affiliation and that the files were designed to disable Lineage’s security systems, but proceeded for personal gain. He transferred a total of about $18,000 to a Chinese bank account designated by the developer.
The lower court said the crime posed a serious threat to national security and society, noting that Oh knowingly interacted with individuals involved in generating funds for North Korea through illicit cyber activities.
However, it also considered mitigating factors, including Oh’s admission of wrongdoing and voluntary confession regarding the operation of the illegal server.
Both the defendant and prosecutors appealed the sentence, but the appellate court rejected their claims. The Supreme Court ultimately upheld the original ruling, stating there were no errors in the lower court’s judgment.
Oh is known to be the spouse of Shin Ae-ryun, founder of the athleisure brand Andar, and had previously served as a director at the company. Andar said in a statement last November that both Shin and Oh had already stepped down from all positions in 2021 following repeated issues involving Oh.
