The US has sanctioned a group of bankers and financial institutions accused of laundering money from cybercrime schemes to help pay for North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control claimed that North Korean malware and social engineering schemes had diverted more than US$3 billion, mostly in digital assets, over the past three years.
That amount is unmatched by any other foreign actor.
“North Korean state-sponsored hackers steal and launder money to fund the regime’s nuclear weapons programme,” under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence John K Hurley said.
The department alleged that Pyongyang relied on a network of banking representatives, financial institutions and shell companies in North Korea, China, Russia, and elsewhere to launder funds gained through IT worker fraud, cryptocurrency heist, and sanctions evasion.
The department had warned US companies in 2022 against hiring highly skilled North Koreans who obfuscated their identities to get access to financial networks by posing as remote IT workers.
The new measures were directed at eight people and two companies, including North Korean bankers Jang Kuk Chol and Ho Jong Son, who Washington accused of helping manage funds, including $5.3 million in cryptocurrency, on behalf of the sanctioned First Credit Bank.
North Korea ‘ready to carry out major nuclear test’
Kim Jong Un could conduct a nuclear test in a short time if he decided to, according to a report citing South Korea's military intelligence agency.
The Defence Intelligence Agency also said that North Korea was showing signs of preparing for additional spy satellite launches with Russian technical support in order to secure reconnaissance satellites with a higher resolution than existing ones, Yonhap reported.
The Defence Intelligence Agency could not be immediately reached for comment.
The country reportedly has a nuclear test facility at the Punggye-ri site.
In September Mr Kim said in a surprise speech that his country would exponentially increase its stockpile of nuclear weapons.
