The South Korean and U.S. governments have decided to actively seek cooperation with virtual asset service providers such as cryptocurrency exchanges to respond to North Korea’s cyber threats.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lee Joon-il, head of the North Korean Nuclear Diplomatic Planning Team, and Jeong Park, the U.S. Deputy Special Representative for North Korea at the State Department, gathered these opinions at the 5th ‘ROK-U.S. Working Group Meeting on North Korean Cyber Threats’ held in Washington, D.C. on the 6th and 7th. This meeting was attended by 50 diplomatic, intelligence, judicial, and financial officials from both Korea and the United States.
As North Korea has found it difficult to earn foreign currency due to various sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council due to its nuclear and missile development, it is believed that it has recently been focusing on securing funds through illegal cyber activities such as stealing virtual currency and hacking financial companies.
In relation to this, both South Korea and the United States agreed at this meeting that “North Korea continues to develop new hacking technologies and methods to evade the international community’s efforts to block them,” and that “the international community, including South Korea and the United States, must respond promptly.” Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that they did it together.
Both Korea and the United States are also strengthening diplomatic efforts to preemptively block the overseas dispatch of North Korean information and communications (IT) workers and other workers, and more quickly sharing related ‘risk’ information with IT companies and job-seeking sites and providing precautions. We also decided to guide you.
In addition, both South Korea and the United States strengthened explanations to governments and companies in each country to raise the international community’s awareness of North Korea’s cyber threats, and discussed North Korea’s recent cyberattacks using e-mail and malicious code and attempts to steal information in the defense industry. We also plan to closely cooperate to respond to cyber activities.
In June of this year, our government designated ‘Kim Soo-ki’, a representative North Korean hacking organization, as the world’s first target of independent sanctions against North Korea, and last month, together with the US government, we cautioned against hiring or assisting in the activities of North Korean IT personnel disguised as nationality or identity. An updated ‘Government Joint Advisory’ has been issued recommending caution.
Director Lee took advantage of his attendance at this meeting and held a briefing session on the topic of ‘Obtaining Foreign Currency through North Korea’s Illegal Cyber Activities’ for U.S. Congressional aides on the 6th, and on the 7th, he participated in a discussion with Vice Representative Park of the ROK-U.S. Deputy Representative for North Korean Nuclear Affairs. .
In this discussion, Director Lee and Deputy Director Park shared their assessment of the possibility of additional provocations, such as North Korea’s attempt to launch a reconnaissance satellite, and in particular, “We must respond resolutely to any provocations by North Korea and clearly show that provocations always come with a price.” We reaffirmed our position.
Our government believes that North Korea, after failing to launch a reconnaissance satellite twice in May and August, is currently preparing for the launch by correcting the problems with support from Russia. In relation to this, our military authorities predict that North Korea will likely complete preparations to launch a reconnaissance satellite by the end of this month.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.