North Korea is likely behind billions of dollars in cryptocurrency theft

Kim Jong Un's regime is very poor, but the ruler has a very expensive missile program. Apparently with money from cyber attacks.

NEW YORK – North Korea often makes headlines for its unauthorized missile tests. But now the communist state ruled by Kim Jong Un is suspected of being responsible for major thefts. It's about cryptocurrency.

UN experts accuse North Korea of ​​stealing about $3.6 billion (€3.32 billion) through cyberattacks on cryptocurrency companies over the past seven years. This appears from a confidential report that Reuters news agency was able to view on Tuesday (May 14).

North Korea looted $147.5 million in a single cryptocurrency cyberattack

In 2023, $147.5 million was reported stolen in a single cyberattack on cryptocurrency exchange HTX. In March 2024, this money was laundered through the virtual currency platform Tornado Cash, according to the report submitted to the UN Security Council. It talks about 97 suspected hacker attacks in North Korea between 2017 and 2024.

The report comes from the sanctions watchdog and is based on data from cryptocurrency analysis firm PeckShield and blockchain research firm Elliptic. According to the supervisory authority, eleven thefts of cryptocurrencies worth $54.7 million were examined in 2024 alone.

North Korea is very poor, but it has an expensive nuclear program

Like a news magazine woman As he wrote, the United Nations assumes that North Korea — in addition to selling weapons to Russia — is financing its expensive nuclear program through cyberstrikes. The regime's rural population, under sanctions over its missile program since 2006, suffers from extreme poverty. Since it is largely isolated internationally, no money flows into the country from abroad.