South Korea Prepares Bill to Freeze North Korea's Crypto Assets
Date: 2023-09-05 Author: Karina Ziganova Categories: BUSINESS, IN WORLD
According to the Korea JonngAung Daily, the South Korean government will introduce a bill that would allow it to track and freeze crypto assets destined for North Korea's weapons program.
In November 2022, the National Intelligence Service submitted a bill. Later, President Yoon Seok Yeonwoo issued the revision orders, which led to a ten-month process in cooperation with government agencies.
There is one important point made by the revised bill. It concerns a measure to monitor and mitigate the theft of cryptocurrency assets by North Korea through hacker attacks. The bill also aims to increase sanctions against another country.
There are many crypto hacks that have been linked to North Korea.
North Korea, under economic blockade by the West and its allies, is increasingly relying on crypto assets or income from illicit businesses. The Asian country was accused of sponsoring hackers. These people are using crypto projects to create weapons against Western countries and the United Nations.
For purposes of context, the US tracked down several cryptocurrency breaches in North Korean hacker wallets and the Ronin bridge exploit. As a result, more than $600 million worth of assets were stolen.
According to Chainalysis, North Korean hackers have stolen over $3 billion over the past 5 years. North American intelligence reports a staggering $1.2 billion in BTC and ETH stolen by North Korea in 2022 alone. The conclusion of the report revealed that since 2017, North Korean hackers have stolen $497 million in cryptocurrencies from US businesses.
