South Korea has set its first independent sanctions for cryptocurrency thefts and attacks against some specific North Korean individuals and groups. The announcement against these famous individuals and groups came immediately after South Korea announced its joint cyber venture with the US intelligence agencies to prevent ransomware threats.
In the words of Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so far seven businesses and four North Korean individuals have been placed on a blacklist due to their alleged involvement in unethical activities such as cryptocurrency theft and cyber attacks. Furthermore, the ministry states that North Korean hackers have stolen digital assets worth $1.2 billion since the year 2017 out of which $626 million were alone stolen in 2022. As per the mention by Cointelegraph, North Korean hackers have stolen the most crypto assets in the year 2022.
Four of these blacklist individuals include Park Jin-hyok, Jo Myong-rae, Song Rim, and Oh Chung-Seong. Of this Park Jin – hyok has been placed on a blacklist by United States Treasury since 2018.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service in collaboration with National Security Agency and other US Intelligence organizations has released a joint cyber security alert for the threat that is caused due to ransomware from North Korea.
Such cyber activities that are largely connected to the Reconnaissance General Bureau which is North Korea’s military Intelligence agency are considered the main source of funding for its national projects. These projects include nuclear and missile programs despite the country being subjected to several international sanctions.
