Do Kwon’s lawyer argued that the Terraform Labs co-founder should be extradited to South Korea and not the United States. The statement comes in response to extradition requests from both countries, with Kwon currently detained in Montenegro.
Goran Rodic, Kwon’s Montenegrin lawyer, said that based on the European Convention on the Extradition of Criminals, the bilateral agreement with the United States and national laws on international legal aid, Kwon should be extradited to South Korea .
According to Rodic, interviewed by the local newspaper Poveda, Do Kwon is a Korean citizen and is “100% sure that he should be repatriated”.
Political motivations perhaps a factor in Do Kwon’s extradition
The situation is complicated by political considerations, as Montenegrin Justice Minister Andrej Milovic hinted at a potential political decision in the extradition process.
In a November interview with a local broadcast, Minister Milovic called the United States the country’s “most important foreign policy partner”. This has raised questions about whether political factors could influence the final decision on the destination of Earth’s founder.
The US Wall Street Journal reported in December last year that Minister Milovic had announced plans to send Kwon to the US to the US ambassador to Montenegro.
The trial in the United States has been moved to mid-March
Recent developments, including the postponement of his trial date in US federal court, have sparked speculation about potential motivations. The trial, initially scheduled for the 29th of this month, was delayed by two months, to March 25, leading major foreign media to analyze the decision in the context of Kwon’s possible extradition to the United States. Kwon’s US attorney had felt that the trial should be moved forward so that Kwon could participate in the trial.
Responding to the media reports, lawyer Rodic dismissed them as timely pressure tactics, saying: “It is no coincidence that these media reports are coming out at this time.”
Currently, Kwon’s legal team is appealing the decision to the High Court of Podgorica in Montenegro. However, according to local reports, the final decision on extradition will rest with Montenegro’s Minister of Justice.