The South Korean government has imposed its first round of unilateral sanctions in response to the rising number of cryptocurrency thefts and cyberattacks carried out by North Korean organizations and individuals.
According to Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, seven companies and four North Korean nationals have reportedly been put on a blacklist for their alleged involvement in cyberattacks and cryptocurrency theft. A few of the people on the blacklist are the notorious Park Jin-hyok, Jo Myong-rae, Song Rim, and Oh Chung-Seong.
In 2022, North Korean cryptocurrency theft reached an unprecedented level. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation reported in January 2022 that two North Korean cybergangs had masterminded the theft of $100 million in cryptocurrency from Horizon Bridge. In March 2022, another $600 million attack was carried out involving an Ethereum wallet on the US blacklist, allegedly linked to the renowned North Korean hacking organization “Lazarus.”
Park, the most well-known of the four hackers, is an information technology specialist for the Chosun Expo Joint Venture, a front organization for the Lazarus Group in North Korea.
His involvement in both the attacks on Sony Pictures Entertainment in November 2014 and the WannaCry ransomware campaign in 2017 earned him an infamous widespread reputation. He was blacklisted by the US Treasury in 2018.
According to the report, this is the first time the South Korean government has independently imposed sanctions against North Korea in cyberspace. It is anticipated that including the virtual asset wallet address as the subject of the sanctions’ identification will be an opportunity to raise awareness of the dangers of trading virtual assets with North Korea.
The announcement of the sanctions came just hours after South Korea and the United States announced their collaborative cybersecurity initiative to tackle ransomware attacks.
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