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North Korea’s $700 Million Crypto Theft Chest Could Fund Nukes: Report

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is said to be sanctioning hackers to target vulnerable crypto exchanges in South-east Asia. | Source:North Korea's Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is said to be sanctioning hackers to target vulnerable crypto exchanges in South-east Asia. | Source:North Korea's Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS

Despite the heavy international sanctions it is under, North Korea has continued its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs undeterred thanks to the sanctions-circumvention tactics the hermit kingdom has developed.

According to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), one of the chief ways North Korea is financing its WMD programs is through cryptocurrencies, which it has obtained mostly illegally.

Currently, it estimated that North Korea may have amassed cryptocurrencies worth between $545 million and $735 million.

The hermit kingdom has been linked to various cybercrime activities, the most lucrative of which have been hacking cryptocurrency exchanges.

North Korea not Keen on Observing Good Neighborliness…

In what amounts to old news, the RUSI report says North Korea has been mostly targeting South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges. These exchanges include YouBit and Bithumb. In some instances, North Korean cybercrime operatives have hacked the same South Korean crypto exchanges more than once. This is the case with Bithumb and YouBit.

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The report further adds that the number of cybercrime operatives working for North Korea is in the thousands. The most prominent of these state-sponsored North Korean cybercrime organizations is the Lazarus Group:

In 2015, South Korean intelligence estimated that North Korea employs up to 6,000 cyber-warfare experts, a number that has likely grown since then. Among these experts are the Lazarus Group, a group of hackers working under the 6th Technical Bureau, within North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau. The Lazarus Group is often also referred to as Unit 180 or Bureau 121, although experts debate whether these are all indeed the same group.

Read the full story on CCN.com.