UN: "North Korea's Cyber Theft Over 4 Trillion Won in 6 Years... Used for WMD Development"

UN experts have assessed that North Korea's cyberattacks for financial theft have amounted to around 4 trillion won over six years. It is analyzed that 40% of the funding for the development of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including nuclear weapons, was covered by these funds.

The UN Security Council's Sanctions Committee on North Korea released an annual report from its expert panel on the 20th (local time), stating that "military and political tensions on the Korean Peninsula increased further during the six-month reporting period from July last year to January this year."

The panel evaluated that the reason for continuously targeting the loosely regulated virtual asset industry with cyber threats was "to generate income while evading UN sanctions." Due to the Security Council's economic sanctions, North Korea could no longer obtain foreign currency needed for nuclear weapons and missile development through normal trade activities, so it used cyberattacks as the main means of earning foreign currency.

The panel also noted reports from UN member states that North Korea's malicious cyber activities, such as hacking and cyberattacks, accounted for about 50% of its total foreign currency earnings. Based on member state reports, it pointed out that 40% of the funding for WMD development programs was procured through such illegal cyber means.

The panel specifically stated that it is investigating 17 cases of virtual currency theft suspected to be linked to North Korea last year. The total amount stolen reaches $750 million (approximately 1 trillion won).

The panel further revealed that from 2017 to 2023, North Korea's cyberattacks targeting virtual asset-related companies are estimated to have stolen about $3 billion (approximately 4 trillion won), and investigations are ongoing into 58 related suspicious cases.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.