NEW YORK/PYONGJANG (dpa-AFX) – According to the United Nations, North Korea stole more money from cybercrime last year than ever before. Several estimates put at least $630 million or even $1 billion stolen from the internet. This shows “that 2022 was a record year for the theft of virtual assets in North Korea,” according to a previously confidential UN expert report that the German Press Agency was able to view.
In the past six years, the state-employed hackers are said to have captured a total of around 1.2 billion dollars online. The money, which was often invested anonymously in cryptocurrency, is then used by the heavily sanctioned country to finance its nuclear and missile program, which ruler Kim Jong Un has recently pushed ahead with./scb/DP/zb