Seoul Sanctions North Korea Over Crypto Theft – Bitcoin News

South Korea has imposed sanctions on the North in relation to a series of cyber attacks that often result in the theft of cryptocurrency. Authorities in Seoul say the regime in Pyongyang is using the digital assets to finance its nuclear and missile development projects.

South Korea hits North Korean hackers with first cybercrime sanctions

The South Korean government has imposed sanctions in response to cyber attacks allegedly carried out by North Korea to finance its military programs. The measures target four North Korean individuals and seven entities, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul announced on Friday.

The sanctions, the South’s first independently imposed, target actors linked to North Korea’s main intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, which is considered responsible for Pyongyang’s cyber warfare operations.

Among them is the hacker collective Lazarus Group, linked to hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen crypto, and one of its members, Park Jin Hyok, who is on the FBI’s Most Wanted list of cyber criminals, is said to be behind the Wannacry ransomware and other cyber attacks. .

These are “not the only targets” under scrutiny, a senior foreign ministry official quoted by the Korea Herald stressed, without giving details. UPI reported that Pyongyang Automation University, believed to be training North Korean hackers, has also been blacklisted.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said these hackers have stolen more than $1.2 billion worth of digital currency since 2017. More than half of that came from the March attack on Ronin, the blockchain network of the online game Axie Infinity.

According to a draft UN report prepared by independent sanctions monitors, North Korea stole more crypto assets in 2022 than in any previous year. The document, which has not yet been made public, cites various estimates, including an assessment that the virtual cash obtained by hackers working for Pyongyang during the period studied exceeded $1 billion in value.

Do you expect South Korea to expand sanctions against the North in the future? Tell us in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’ quote: “To be a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.