The chief of a North Korean research and activist group has sent a letter to several international organizations handling cyber-related issues, calling for joint efforts to deter and curb Pyongyang’s cybercrimes.

Kim Heung-kwang, chief of the Seoul-based North Korea Intellectual Solidarity, stressed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has focused on cyber terror to improve his country’s science and technology to shore up its debilitated economy.

The letter was sent to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers; the Global Conference on Cyberspace, which began its two-day schedule in the Hague, the Netherlands, on Thursday; and other global bodies.

“Considering that North Korea has expanded the scope of hacking attacks from technical data on industrial machines and facilities to buildings and fashion designs, the resulting international damage will surely increase,” he wrote in the letter obtained by The Korea Herald.

“I am sure that great Internet powers that North Korea cannot beat and righteous people will be able to stop its evil deeds someday. I hope that you will join that effort,” added Kim, who is a former professor at the Communist College in the North. Kim defected to the South in 2004.

Touching on the North’s cyber capabilities, Kim highlighted the role of Bureau 121, a key unit that he said consisted of “gifted” cyber-warriors in their 20s.

The unit is conducting a campaign, dubbed the “Plan to Investigate International Natural Energies,” in which the North conducts hacking missions to steal technological information from the U.S., Britain, France, China and Russia.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)