In the past six years, the state-employed hackers are said to have stolen around 1.2 billion dollars online. The money, which was often invested anonymously in cryptocurrency, would then be used by the heavily sanctioned country to finance its nuclear and missile program, which ruler Kim Jong Un had recently pushed ahead with.
In the meantime, the UN experts again see “a significant acceleration” in the development of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. Stockpiles of fissile material were rising, reflecting new North Korean nuclear policies and a string of missile launches. Earlier this year, Kim announced an exponential increase in his country’s nuclear arsenal, further escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Preparations for nuclear test
The UN reported last year that North Korea was preparing for its first nuclear test since 2017. Recently, construction work continued at the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test facility in the north of the country. According to the UN report, in 2022 Pyongyang fired at least 73 ballistic missiles in violation of UN Security Council resolutions – 42 of them in the last four months of the year. Among them was the test of a new type of solid fuel rocket.
For 2023, Kim is obviously not deviating from his confrontational course: As reported by the state media on Tuesday, he wants to expand the military maneuvers. In addition, the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party, chaired by Kim, spoke about defining the “most important military and political tasks for 2023”. It was also about the long-term aspects of expanding the army. Kim is both party leader and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the country, which is largely isolated due to its nuclear weapons program.
75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Army on Wednesday
According to the reports, it was also about “dealing with the current situation and perfecting the readiness for war”. North Korea had threatened strong reactions last week after the US and South Korea announced they would expand their joint military exercises, which in turn was also a response to North Korea’s missile tests. On Wednesday, Pyongyang will mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the people’s army.
Hacker group Lazarus with sophisticated attacks
The United Nations blames the state-run hacker group Lazarus and its subgroups for the cyber attacks in North Korea, which are important for state revenues. Increasingly sophisticated ransomware attacks and hacks targeting cryptocurrency marketplaces have been observed. In ransomware attacks, attackers enter systems, take control, and lock victims out. The data is usually encrypted and only made accessible again after paying a ransom.
According to the UN report, another scam used by hackers is to infect certain organizations active in the crypto business with malware in order to be able to intercept money transfers. “In addition, as part of the campaign, the hacking group registered fake domains impersonating well-known banks and venture capital firms,” it said. North Korea is also trying to steal NFTs (non-fungible tokens) via phishing attacks. With them, digital content can be provided with a non-exchangeable certificate and thus marked as original, which sometimes leads to immense increases in value.
With the missile tests and his nuclear program, Kim Jong Un wants to increase the pressure on the world community to lift the sanctions against his country.
