Seoul considers new penalties as North Korean crypto theft escalates

Second Vice Foreign Minister Kim Ji-na announced on November 6 that South Korea is considering sanctions on North Korea over rampant crypto crime, and that cooperating with the ￰0￱ ￰1￱ emphasized that most of these funds could find their way to North Korea’s nuclear programs while threatening the world’s digital ￰2￱ Second Vice Foreign Minister stressed that her country has been making efforts to combat fraudulent activities, and in that context, it is considering sanctions as a measure whenever ￰3￱ remarks came after the ￰4￱ fresh sanctions on two North Korean entities and eight individuals suspected of laundering stolen funds, most of it in crypto.

However, these sanctions do not appear to faze North Korea’s hackers ￰5￱ are reportedly fast, decentralized, and invisible, making them a difficult ￰6￱ Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John Hurley said North Korean state-backed hackers steal and launder crypto assets to fund the regime’s nuclear programs. Meanwhile, the message from Washington to Pyongyang is clear — it urges the regime to stop treating blockchain like a bomb ￰7￱ says South Korea is following the United States’ lead Second Vice Foreign Minister Kim disclosed that her country is awaiting clarification from the ￰8￱ regarding internal ￰9￱ added that Washington is currently working on reviewing and adjusting the wording of a joint fact sheet regarding the outcome of last week’s meeting between President Donald Trump and President Lee Jae ￰10￱ ￰11￱ Department recently asserted that the North Korean government relies on several illegal activities, including cybercrime, and explicitly tasks its hackers to raise funds using these illicit ￰12￱ added that North Korea’s cybercriminals have so far stolen $3 billion, mainly in crypto, using social engineering and advanced malware.

“By generating revenue for Pyongyang’s weapons development, these actors directly threaten ￰13￱ global ￰14￱ will continue to pursue the facilitators and enablers behind these schemes to cut off the DPRK’s illicit revenue streams.” – John Hurley , Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence However, the ￰15￱ Department pointed out that nabbing these North Korean malicious actors has become increasingly complex because they are scattered around the world under hidden ￰16￱ also collaborate with non-North Korean freelancers on projects originally commissioned by the North Korean government, then split the ￰17￱ Department further stated that all properties or dealings with sanctioned individuals or entities are blocked and must be reported to OFAC (the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control).

Meanwhile, North Korean President Kim Jong Un believes these measures are ￰18￱ says South Korea has considered sanctioning North Korea before Angela Ang, Head of Policy and Strategic Partnerships for Asia Pacific at TRM Labs, stated that this would not be the first time South Korea has considered sanctioning North Korea ￰19￱ added that OFAC sanctions have far-reaching implications, as they cut off access to the global financial system, and South Korea’s sanctions would be seen as a reinforcement of these ￰20￱ Yoon, a Senior Analyst at Tiger Research, also acknowledged a high possibility of South Korea imposing more sanctions on North Korea. However, the impact may not be as ￰21￱ pointed out that the escalation between North and South Korea follows North Korea’s nuclear testing in 2016.

Large-scale exchanges between the two countries were severed entirely during that time, and small-scale sanctions have continued to be ￰22￱ previously reported that representative Lee Yang-soo of the ruling People Power Party has called on South Korea’s financial authorities to closely monitor crypto exchanges in the ￰23￱ added that, above all, they should accurately identify the true nature of these illicit actions and devise ￰24￱ your free seat in an exclusive crypto trading community - limited to 1,000 members.