North Korea has generated over $1 billion through crypto heists over the past two years to fund its nuclear program, the Korea Herald reported on Wednesday, citing a statement from Alejandro Mayorkas, the U.S. secretary of homeland security.
The secretary made the claims in his written testimony submitted ahead of a plenary session of the Committee on Homeland Security in the House of Representatives.
“In the last two years alone, North Korea has largely funded its weapons of mass destruction programs through cyber heists of cryptocurrencies and hard currencies totaling more than $1 billion,” Mayorkas said in his written statement.
Mayorkas also mentioned that North Korea, as well as several other “hostile” nations including Russia, China, Iran, and cybercriminals around the world “continue to sharpen their tactics and create more adverse consequences.”
South Korea and the US Strengthen Ties
According to the report, South Korea and the US government are now working to strengthen their cooperation to combat North Korea’s threats in cyberspace.
The report stated that both countries recently held a second working group meeting on North Korean cyber threats in Seoul.
During the meeting, both countries agreed to join forces with related industries and the international society to come up with measures to help combat North Korea’s cyber threats, the report added.
“North Korea has growing espionage in addition to theft and attack capability in some ways, sort of similar to Iran in recent years in particular, and especially targeting, as you say, financial institutions, cryptocurrency exchanges…,” Christopher Wray, director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, said in a statement.
North Korea Exploits Crypto
Over the years, the United States and other world powers have pursued economic and financial sanctions on North Korea for developing nuclear weapons and related activities.
However, it appears that the financial sanctions have failed to push North Korea toward denuclearization, as the country is reportedly using illicit means, including exploiting crypto to generate funds to help fund its program.
In April, the United States Treasury Department tied the North Korean hacking group, Lazarus, to an Ethereum wallet used in stealing over $600 million stolen from the popular NFT-based game, Axie Infinity.
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Source: https://coinfomania.com/n-korea-generated-over-1b-in-crypto-for-nuclear-program/