South Korea Teaming Up With Japan, US Against North Korean Cryptocurrency Theft - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th October, 2022) South Korea, Japan and the United States' top nuclear envoys have agreed to redouble their efforts to combat North Korea's cryptocurrency theft, which helps fund its nuclear program, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Friday, citing the South Korean foreign ministry.

Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Kim Gunn spoke over the phone with US Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim and Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General for Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Funakoshi Takehiro. They discussed a joint response to North Korea's recent spate of ballistic missile launches, including one that flew over Japanese territory on Tuesday.

One avenue would be to block the funding for North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs by targeting its cryptocurrency revenue, they reportedly agreed.

A United Nations Security Council report released on March 1 cited the claim made by a cybersecurity firm that North Korean hackers stole a total of $400 million worth of cryptocurrency in 2021. The same reports said that a UN member state accused North Korean "cyberactors" of stealing over $50 million between 2020 and mid-2021 from various cryptocurrency exchanges.