U.N. report: North Korea financing weapons program with cybercrime

United States Strategic Command

United Nations investigators say North Korea has stolen billions of dollars in cyberattacks to fund the regime’s weapons of mass destruction. The U.N. found 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023, valued at about $3 billion, The Associated Press (AP) reported in February 2024. Hacking groups reporting to Pyongyang’s primary foreign intelligence organization continue to conduct cyberattacks, U.N. experts said.

The report came just days after South Korea unveiled a new strategy to counter North Korea’s cyber threats. Seoul’s approach is based on the country’s National Security Strategy published in June 2023 and follows the November 2023 formation of a trilateral working group with Japan and the United States to counter North Korea’s increasing cyber threats. The new strategy places a clearer focus on strengthening preemptive and offensive capabilities.

Software giant Microsoft said it disrupted attempts by North Korea and other countries — including Iran, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia — to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to breach networks. Prior to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to the United Kingdom in November 2023, North Korean hackers breached one of his aide’s emails, the BBC reported.

“The revised strategy clearly outlines a national-level active response strategy to address the international and state-sponsored hacking organizations posing threats to South Korea’s cybersecurity, and North Korea’s malicious cyberattacks,” Kim So Jeong, director of Emerging Security Studies at the Seoul-based Institute for National Security Strategy, told NK News. The strategy also calls for cooperation with Allies and Partners, including NATO member states and Indo-Pacific countries, to deter the North Korean cyber threat.

“Attempting to address these challenges independently has its limitations,” Kim said. “A proactive collaboration with the global community is essential to formulate effective strategies and solutions in response to the evolving challenges presented by North Korea’s cyber activities.”

North Korea’s attempts to develop technology, including for weapons and AI, have long been stymied by international sanctions. Hackers steal money, often in cryptocurrency, to fund development of AI and machine learning technology, including military applications such as wargaming and surveillance, as well as to improve nuclear reactor safety — a civilian application that security analysts warn could transfer to military use. U.N. experts said a light-water reactor at North Korea’s main nuclear complex at Yongbyon “appeared to be operational,” the AP reported. South Korean officials suspect Pyongyang may use the reactor to develop nuclear weapons.

Hyuk Kim, a research fellow at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies’ Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said North Korea has collaborated with the PRC in AI development for infrastructure and nuclear safety research.

“North Korea’s ongoing collaborations with foreign scholars pose concerns for the sanctions regime,” he wrote in a January 2024 article for 38 North, a publication of the Stimson Center, a U.S.-based think tank. “Moreover, the conversion of civilian AI technology into military applications poses a substantial risk, particularly in cloud computing environments that sidestep the need for specialized hardware.”

South Korea’s new cyber strategy is a joint effort of its National Security Office, National Intelligence Service, National Police Agency, and ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Defense, and Science and Information and Communication Technology. Plans include establishing a rapid response system and supporting innovation in cybersecurity companies. In addition to the partnership with Japan and the U.S., Seoul recently launched a partnership with the U.K., and will seek to work with other NATO countries.

“In the past, our approach to cybersecurity had been primarily defensive from a security perspective,” Lim Jong-in, professor of cybersecurity at Korea University and a special advisor to Yoon, told NK News. The revised strategy, he said, “aligns with the U.S. direction in securing offensive capabilities and adopting an offensive stance.”