"North Korea Earns Over 8 Trillion Won Illegally Since Strengthening Sanctions"

A report has emerged estimating that North Korea's illegal earnings since the strengthening of sanctions in 2017 amount to approximately $6.3 billion (8.45 trillion KRW).

According to the Korea Institute for National Security Strategy on the 4th, North Korea's illegal earnings from 2017 to last year are estimated to be around $6.29 billion.

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This information is included in the report titled 'Estimation of North Korea's Foreign Currency Balance After Sanctions II: Illegal Transaction Balance and Comprehensive Balance.' Senior Research Fellow Lim Suho analyzed this based on the North Korean cybercrime profits analyzed by the government and specialized institutions, the scale of overseas IT personnel and general workers dispatched by North Korea, and the scale of coal smuggling.

In terms of amounts, coal smuggling was the largest at $2.15 billion, followed by wages of workers dispatched to China and Russia and cyber foreign currency earnings, at $1.75 billion and $1.35 billion respectively.

North Korea's income from supplying military materials such as artillery shells to Russia last year is estimated at $540 million.

Senior Research Fellow Lim estimated North Korea's arms supply to Russia from July last year to February this year based on publicly available data from the South Korean Ministry of National Defense, the U.S. White House and State Department, and the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, assuming that three-quarters of this volume was supplied last year.

Based on this standard, the weapons North Korea supplied to Russia last year are calculated as 937,500 rounds of 152mm shells, 187,500 rounds of 122mm shells, 9 KN-23 missiles, and 9 KN-24 missiles. The total amount was calculated by applying Russian weapons market unit prices.

Senior Research Fellow Lim previously analyzed North Korea's legal transaction balance over the past seven years as a deficit of $8.25 billion, but when illegal profits are reflected, it decreases to $70 million. This means that the external balance deficit caused by sanctions on North Korea was largely offset by illegal transactions.

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