UN experts claim they are investigating 58 suspected cyberattacks by North Korea between 2017 and 2023 worth an estimated $3 billion, The Globe and Mail reports.
A report to the UN Security Council received on Friday reveals that multiple cyberattacks by North Korean hacking groups reporting to North Korea’s General Intelligence Bureau are still ongoing.
The information, which covers the period from July 2023 to January 2024, was sent to the 15-member council as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was escalating the situation in the region. He threatened to destroy South Korea if provocations and weapons demonstrations continued. In response, the US, South Korea and Japan have intensified their joint military exercises.
South Korea’s defence minister announced in late December that the light-water reactor at North Korea’s main nuclear complex at Yongbyon would likely be officially operational by the summer, amid suspicions that North Korea could use it as a new source of fissile material for nuclear weapons.
North Korea has long produced weapons-grade plutonium at its 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon, which also has a uranium enrichment plant.
The group that monitors UN sanctions against North Korea stated that the DPRK (North Korea’s official name) continued to import oil products in violation of Security Council resolutions, using “combinations of obfuscation methods” to evade maritime sanctions.
According to experts, the recorded volume of DPRK trade in 2023 exceeded the total in 2022, including a large number of consumer goods, “some of which could be classified as luxury items” prohibited by UN sanctions.
The panel said it was investigating member states’ reports of supplying the DPRK with arms and ammunition in violation of UN sanctions. The United States, Ukraine and six allies accused Russia last month of using North Korean ballistic missiles and launchers in a series of air attacks against Ukraine in violation of UN sanctions.
The experts stated that they also investigated reports that numerous DPRK nationals were working abroad, including in information technology, restaurants and construction, and earning income in violation of UN sanctions.
The DPRK continues to access the international financial system and engage in illicit financial operations.
The panel stated that “there can be little doubt that UN sanctions and their implementation have unintentionally affected the humanitarian situation and some aspects of aid operations.”
