
South Korea announced on Thursday that it has decided to slap unilateral sanctions on 15 North Korean information technology workers and one entity accused of illicit cyber activities to fund Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
The sanctions, which will take effect Monday, subject 14 members of the General Bureau 313 of the North’s Munitions Industry Department, which is held responsible for a “mass dispatch” of North Korean IT workers to other countries, including China and Russia, to funnel foreign currencies for Pyongyang. The individuals include Pak Hung-ryong, Yun Jong-sik, Ri Il-jin and Kang Hyon-chol.
According to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, the North’s Munitions Industry Department is in charge of research and development for Pyongyang’s weapons program, including ballistic missiles. The department itself is subject to United Nations sanctions. The General Bureau 313 is said to be funding the nuclear and missile program through foreign currency earned by “multiple IT workers” dispatched overseas and to be involved in the development of Pyongyang’s military software program.
Both Kim Chol-min and Kim Ryu-song were accused of involvement in a scheme where they took on false identities to contract with US companies to send their wages to the North for the development of the weapons program.
Kim Ryu-song was among 14 North Korean IT workers indicted earlier this month in the US for their part in such a scheme, involving theft of sensitive data from companies in exchange for extortion payments, according to The Associated Press, citing an FBI official. All 14 suspects now face charges that include wire fraud, money laundering and identity theft, among others. But most of the suspects are believed to be based in North Korea at the moment.
The 15th individual, who is not part of the General Bureau 313, is Sin Jong-ho, an employee of the Chosun Kum Jong Economics Information Technology Exchange Co., which is the entity added to the sanctions list. Sin is believed to have led the entity’s operations in the Chinese border city of Dandong.
The entity is accused of being involved in the mass dispatch of the North’s IT workers to foreign countries and playing a key role in its money laundering network.
North Korea stole a record $1.3 billion of cryptocurrency in the first 11 months of this year, accounting for 61 percent of the total global crypto theft volume of $2.2 billion in the same period, according to recent data by global blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.