"Husband Detained After Transferring 23.8 Million KRW to North Korean Hacker"... Andar Founder Shin Ae-ryeon Distances Herself, Claims "I Knew Nothing"

[Financial News] Shin Ae-ryeon, founder and former CEO of the yoga wear brand Andar, has issued a statement regarding her husband, Mr. Oh, who was recently detained for allegedly transferring funds to a North Korean hacker.

On the 15th, Shin revealed a direct message (DM) exchange with a netizen through her SNS account.
When asked, "What are your thoughts on the National Security Act violation?", Shin responded, "It happened 11 years ago, before I got married. How could I have known? How do you feel about me and my children suffering for something I didn’t do?"
The netizen apologized, saying, "I thought it was a recent incident. I hope you and your children are not hurt, especially since it happened 11 years ago."
After posting the exchange, Shin expressed her determination, stating, "I have worked hard until now, and I intend to continue doing so."
Previously, on the 13th, the Seoul Western District Court’s Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Ban Jeong-woo) dismissed Mr. Oh’s appeal against charges of violating the National Security Act and sentenced him to one year in prison and one year of disqualification. Mr. Oh was taken into custody that day.

From July 2014 to May 2015, Mr. Oh allegedly operated an illegal private server for the popular online MMORPG Lineage in South Korea. He is accused of contacting a North Korean hacker known as 'Eric' (real name Oh Sung-hyuk) via a Chinese messenger to obtain a hacking program (core executable file) to disable security software.
Eric is reportedly the head of the development team at the Rungra Information Center under the Korea Rungrado General Trading Corporation, which is affiliated with Central Committee Bureau 39 of the Workers' Party of Korea (Room 39). He is known as a high-risk individual with expertise in DDoS attacks and cyberterrorism.

Mr. Oh was also found to have requested hacking and DDoS attacks against competing private servers. In exchange for the hacking program, he transferred approximately 23.8 million KRW to Eric. The court determined that these funds likely ended up as part of North Korea’s ruling funds. The court stated, "Although it is difficult to conclude that Mr. Oh supported the North Korean regime, his repeated contact and provision of funds to a North Korean hacker organization for personal gain constitutes a serious threat to national security."
Meanwhile, Shin married Mr. Oh in 2016. After founding Andar, Mr. Oh served as an in-house director, but in 2021, both he and Shin resigned following allegations of abuse of power against a chauffeur. That same year, Andar was acquired by ECHOMARKETING.
On the 16th, Andar stated, "Shin Ae-ryeon, the founder and former CEO, and her husband Mr. Oh currently hold no shares in Andar. This matter concerns personal actions in the past and is unrelated to the company."

moon@fnnews.com Moon Young-jin Reporter