Can Crypto Help Topple Kim Jong-un In North Korea?

By Sumedha Bose

With the dictatorship which Kim Jong-un has enforced on North Korea for a long time now, an urge to overthrow the supreme leader was definitely going to manifest itself into concrete action, by some citizens.

A group of North Korean dissidents called Cheollima Civil Defense, have taken this responsibility upon their shoulders and are now using cryptocurrency to overthrow the government and bring down Kim Jong-un.

This group is apparently selling visas to a free North Korea of the future. What we know about this scheme till now, is that would-be citizens can buy one of the first 1,000 visas to be issued, for a mere sum equivalent of 1 ETH. However, the official Cheollima website does not mention the exact price of the visas

There are currently 200,000 visas which the group is expected to issue in the coming days and they hope to raise upto $27 million by selling these visas on a blockchain. That should make the transactions anonymous and transparent in nature.

These visas will allow the holder to stay for 45 days in the Cheollima Civil Defense’s future state, which has been dubbed ‘Free Joseon.’ These visas can be traded in secondary markets, and an individual can buy an unlimited number of visas to sell them to other customers. For those willing to pay more, there is the availability of higher tier visas, which would let them operate commercially in a future, post-Kim North Korea.

The first set of visas are set to go on sale this Sunday. In a note on their website, the group emphasized on the anonymity required to conduct this operation. Naming even one member of their team could put their lives at risk. The group explained,

“The identification of even a single member could lead to the identities of others. Several of us have already escaped their attempts on our lives and that of our families. Many of our compatriots and their relatives have not been as fortunate. And any left surviving in concentration camps would surely face execution if the identities of their family members were dissidents were made known.”

The group has already raised 14 BTC, while ETH donations are yet to be received, prior to the visa sale has even had a chance to begin. The preference for BTC and ETH comes from the group’s concerns about concealing their identity.