There is no question that cryptocurrency is one of the hottest topics in South Korea, with the volume of local cryptocurrency trade singlehandedly accounting for 20 percent of global trade. Not only salaried workers, but also college students are dabbling in this relatively new cryptocurrency market.

College community websites are teeming with cryptocurrency-related posts. Hundreds of posts are uploaded every hour on websites such as SNULife, an online community for Seoul National University students, Koreapas for Korea University and Ssodam for Sogang University.

(Pexel)

Cryptocurrency exchanges are gaining ground among investment-savvy Korean college students because they are highly accessible. For instance, Kang Soo-hyun, a 24-year-old Sogang University student, said she could create a virtual account on her phone in just a couple of minutes.

The fourth-year student said that although she had always wanted to try investing, stock trading seemed out of reach. But cryptocurrency is different.

“I only had to enter the verification code sent to my phone, my name and identification number to make an account. It’s also easy to keep track of the coins on the phone,” Kang said.

Another advantage of cryptocurrency has to do with the particularly high profit margin, if everything goes well. Students view bitcoin and other cryptocurrency trading as friendlier to small investors like them. They tend to open new cryptocurrency accounts believing the investment could be highly profitable despite a small amount of seed money.

Another 24-year-old student investor identified by the surname Kwon chose cryptocurrency instead of the main bourse, Kospi, or the tech-heavy Kosdaq. He believed stocks on the Kospi were unaffordable, and those on Kosdaq were too steady to make big profits. Kwon owned coins worth 28 million won ($26,000) in early January this year. At the time, his bottom line was up nearly 1,000 percent from his original investment of 3 million won.

Of nine university students contacted by The Korea Herald, eight said they stepped into cryptocurrency investment with less than 1 million won.

Students said that the coins appear approachable as they are more familiar with novel concepts such as virtual currency, blockchain and cryptocurrency compared to older generations.

However, none saw the investment as an opportunity to turn their lives around. It appears that average college students tend to toy with the cryptocurrency frenzy to earn a little extra cash. Students thought that even though the investment may be highly profitable, there is a limit to what they can obtain with a small investment.

Some local media reports have claimed that student investors are dreaming of fairy tales only a select few can achieve, but the interviewees said they have not seen any of their friends invest and make a fortune or climb up the social ladder.

“The story of rags to riches may hold true for the students who had already invested prior to the cryptocurrency craze from the end of 2017, but it seems inapplicable for the ones who plunged into the pool afterward,” said a 23-year-old student investor Rha Jae-woong, who exited the market following a 400,000 won loss. “All my friends and I invested for a little extra money.”

The turnaround is more relevant to investors in their 30s or 40s, as they are more capable of trading larger sums to realize a long-held dream, or are patient enough to manage the portfolio over the longer term, regardless of dramatic price gyrations on a daily basis.

The best-known digital currency bitcoin had fueled the craze, with its price hitting a record 26 million won per coin locally early last month. The price was just 1.6 million won in January 2017. Following a host of government moves and other factors, bitcoin has suffered crushing setbacks, with its price plunging 75 percent in just a month. As of Wednesday 6 p.m., it was just over 10 million won on local exchanges.

As the overheated cryptocurrency boom revealed its downward viciousness, some of the converts, including those on college campuses, began to exit the market. According to data analysis company Wiseapp, the number of cryptocurrency-related smartphone app users has gone down the past two weeks from 2 million in the third week of January 2018 to 1.86 million in the first week of February. The amount of time spent on apps was also cut in half.

Student investors are becoming more cautious, as more of their friends end up losing money. Kim Nam-wook, a fourth-year student at Konkuk University, said he quit coin investments early this year, and about half of his friends had recently decided to pull out as well.

Kim said that due to new regulations such as the real-name trading system, he lost interest in coins. “The market is no longer appealing because it lacks the convenience it was once famous for,” he said.

By Sang-yool Ahn

(Korea Herald)

The National Intelligence Service also confirmed that Hwang Pyong-so and Kim Won-hong, former head and vice chief of the General Political Bureau, respectively, were removed from their posts following an inspection, and Kim Jong-gak, a vice chief of the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces, was appointed as a new chief.

During a closed-door meeting with lawmakers, the NIS warned against the possibility that North Korea would conduct another nuclear test at its Punggye-ri site and display an array of ballistic missiles during its upcoming military parade to be held Thursday.

“Targeting South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchanges and their customers, North Korea sent emails that could hack into the system and stole customers’ secret numbers,” the NIS said in a report, according to lawmakers who attended the session.

“Cryptocurrency worth billions of won were stolen,” the NIS told the lawmakers at a parliamentary intelligence committee, without elaborating which exchanges were breached. To put “billions” in perspective, 1 billion won in cryptocurrency equals some $920,000.

Kim Jong-gak, a vice chief of the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces, joined Kim Jong-un in accompanying a car carrying the body of the North late leader Kim Jong-il. Yonhap

The intelligence agency also briefed the lawmakers that North Korea had used a South Korean company’s technology to neutralize an anti-hacking system and used a job application email as a decoy for hacking attempts.

When asked about which South Korean companies were breached, the NIS declined to reveal the identities of the companies and individuals attacked, Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea told reporters after attending the session.

According to the lawmakers, the NIS noted that North Korea has been trying to use emails or social networking services to hack into South Korea’s defense and procurement agencies and North Korean activist groups in the South.

Separately, the NIS told the lawmakers it had confirmed that North Korea conducted an inspection of the General Political Bureau for three months from October, which resulted in the removal of former head Hwang Pyong-so from power.

“As a result of the inspection, Hwang was dismissed from the bureau chief post, and he is presumed to be currently taking ideological education at a high-level party school,” an NIS official was quoted by Rep. Kang Seok-ho of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, who attended the briefing.

In November, the NIS told the National Assembly that the North conducted a rare inspection of the bureau for the first time in two decades due to its “impure attitude.” The bureau is seen as an influential military institution that controls the crucial personnel management of other defense establishments.

Regarding the possibility of another nuclear test by the North, the NIS reiterated its previous assessment that the country’s Tunnel 3 of Punggye-ri nuclear site is available for another nuclear test “whenever it is ready.”

While Tunnel 2 of the site has been left unattended since the sixth nuclear test in September last year, excavation work is under way at Tunnel 4, the NIS told the lawmakers.

By Jun-suk Yeo

(Korea Herald)

The National Intelligence Service also confirmed that Hwang Pyong-so and Kim Won-hong, former head and vice chief of the General Political Bureau, respectively, were removed from their posts following an inspection, and Kim Jong-gak, a vice chief of the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces, was appointed as a new chief.

During a closed-door meeting with lawmakers, the NIS warned against the possibility that North Korea would conduct another nuclear test at its Punggye-ri site and display an array of ballistic missiles during its upcoming military parade to be held Thursday.

“Targeting South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchanges and their customers, North Korea sent emails that could hack into the system and stole customers’ secret numbers,” the NIS said in a report, according to lawmakers who attended the session.

“Cryptocurrency worth billions of won were stolen,” the NIS told the lawmakers at a parliamentary intelligence committee, without elaborating which exchanges were breached. To put “billions” in perspective, 1 billion won in cryptocurrency equals some $920,000.

Kim Jong-gak, a vice chief of the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces, joined Kim Jong-un in accompanying a car carrying the body of the North late leader Kim Jong-il. Yonhap

The intelligence agency also briefed the lawmakers that North Korea had used a South Korean company’s technology to neutralize an anti-hacking system and used a job application email as a decoy for hacking attempts.

When asked about which South Korean companies were breached, the NIS declined to reveal the identities of the companies and individuals attacked, Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea told reporters after attending the session.

According to the lawmakers, the NIS noted that North Korea has been trying to use emails or social networking services to hack into South Korea’s defense and procurement agencies and North Korean activist groups in the South.

Separately, the NIS told the lawmakers it had confirmed that North Korea conducted an inspection of the General Political Bureau for three months from October, which resulted in the removal of former head Hwang Pyong-so from power.

“As a result of the inspection, Hwang was dismissed from the bureau chief post, and he is presumed to be currently taking ideological education at a high-level party school,” an NIS official was quoted by Rep. Kang Seok-ho of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, who attended the briefing.

In November, the NIS told the National Assembly that the North conducted a rare inspection of the bureau for the first time in two decades due to its “impure attitude.” The bureau is seen as an influential military institution that controls the crucial personnel management of other defense establishments.

Regarding the possibility of another nuclear test by the North, the NIS reiterated its previous assessment that the country’s Tunnel 3 of Punggye-ri nuclear site is available for another nuclear test “whenever it is ready.”

While Tunnel 2 of the site has been left unattended since the sixth nuclear test in September last year, excavation work is under way at Tunnel 4, the NIS told the lawmakers.

By Jun-suk Yeo

(Korea Herald)