PANews, December 26 - According to TheBlock, the South Korean government announced today sanctions against 15 individuals and 1 North Korean entity involved in illegal online activities, including cryptocurrency theft. The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a press release, 'These 15 North Koreans have been working for the 313 Bureau, an organization under the Ministry of Mechanical Industry of the Workers' Party of Korea. This department has been under United Nations Security Council sanctions since 2016 and is responsible for overseeing North Korea's weapon production, including its ballistic missile program.
North Korean IT personnel are dispatched to China, Russia, Southeast Asia, and Africa as government affiliates, disguising their identities and obtaining job orders from IT companies around the world. Some of these individuals are also involved in information theft and cyberattacks,' a representative from the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. A sanctioned individual named Kim Cheol-min infiltrated IT companies in the United States and Canada as an employee and funneled a large amount of foreign currency to Pyongyang. The statement also mentioned that South Korea imposed sanctions on a North Korean entity that dispatched a large number of North Korean IT personnel overseas and transferred substantial funds to finance the military. On Monday, the FBI announced that North Korean cyber actors were behind the $308 million cryptocurrency theft from Japanese cryptocurrency company DMM Bitcoin. Last week, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on two individuals and one entity for laundering money for North Korea through a front company in the United Arab Emirates.
According to data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, North Korean hackers stole $1.34 billion worth of cryptocurrency in 47 incidents, accounting for 61% of the total stolen amount for the year, with both the amount and frequency increasing.