The chief executive of a crypto exchange has been arrested in South Korea for allegedly leaking military secrets to North Korea, according to several reports.

The executive is one of two individuals arrested and charged with “violating the national security law,” the AFP reported. Named only as Lee, the 38-year-old is described as a businessman who runs a virtual asset management firm; the other individual arrested is a 29-year-old active army captain.

The two were paid in crypto “at the behest of a North Korean agent,” South Korean police reported. Authorities determined the agent was from North Korea based on statements gathered from the two arrested individuals; the army captain allegedly passed on login information for South Korea’s Joint Command & Control System, a military internal communications network, to the suspected North Korean agent.

The army officer was detained on April 15 and the crypto executive on April 2. 

Per the BBC, the agent allegedly paid Lee $600,000 and the army captain roughly $38,000 in cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin. This is reportedly the first time a “civilian and active-duty military captain [have been] caught trying to obtain military secrets” in South Korea, according to officials.

Authorities allege that Lee was approached in July 2021 to “recruit an active-duty officer in order to investigate military secrets.” To that end, he bought a watch containing a hidden camera and passed it on to the army captain. The executive also reportedly created a “Poison Tap” hacking device to access the Joint Command and Control…