Seoul: Sanctions Could Be Ineffective Against North Korean Crypto Hacks

North Korea’s crypto-hacking campaign may be impervious to international sanctions, a South Korean government official has claimed.

According to Yonhap TV News, an unnamed Seoul-based government official said:

“The scale of North Korea’s cybercrime-related activities suggests that the international community’s sanctions against North Korea are rendered impotent.”

South Korean government sources reportedly said North Korea’s “illegal foreign currency earnings” last year amounted to $2.3 billion.

At least $700 million of that figure came from large-scale crypto raids, Seoul said, with more crypto “stolen” in “hacking” and phishing attacks on smaller domestic targets.

The FBI has previously accused North Korea of ​​orchestrating the Ronin Bridge attack. The agency has imposed sanctions on Ethereum (ETH) wallets that it claims are linked to the alleged bridge hackers.

Seoul also believes Pyongyang has made money from “illegal exports”.

According to South Korean government officials, the scale of North Korea’s “foreign currency imports is the highest since 2018” – the year when “economic sanctions against North Korea were seriously launched”, explained the media.

Sanctions won’t slow North Korea’s crypto hacks, says Seoul

Earlier this year, security vendors predicted an upcoming “increase” in North Korean crypto hacks. And last month, crypto exchanges Binance and Huobi said they froze “North Korea-linked” wallets containing “approximately $1.4 million in crypto-assets.”

Security vendors and US government agencies have claimed that North Korean hacking groups such as Lazarus use coin-mixing services to anonymize crypto transactions and “launder” crypto.

They claim that while some of these mixers have been shut down, others are being restarted or reconditioned. They believe this is done in order to allow criminals to convert their crypto to fiat.

Pyongyang has repeatedly denied that it allows crypto hacking. North Korea has accused Washington and Seoul of fabricating reports on its crypto-related activities.