- The media said North Korea continued to produce nuclear weapons in 2023.
- The country is funding its defense program allegedly with funds stolen in cyberattacks.</nbsp;
- According to a U.N. Security Council report cited in the press, that’s $1.7 billion for 2022 alone.
The DPRK continued to produce nuclear weapons in 2023 to circumvent international sanctions, Reuters reported, citing a U.N. Security Council report. The program is funded by cyberattacks, including in the DeFi sector, the publication noted.
“After a record number of thefts in 2022, which totaled about $1.7 billion, DPRK hackers continued their successful attacks on cryptocurrency and other financial platforms around the world,” the report said.
The U.N. Security Council publishes similar reports twice a year, the publication said. The organization submitted a previous one in early February 2023.
At that time, a much smaller loss of about $50 million from mid-2020 was reported. The report also included a review of the country’s other illegal activities, including smuggling.
The organization’s monitors, however, concluded that it was cyberattacks that were the main source of funding for the nuclear program.
In May 2023, the U.S. Department of Defense released its own report that confirmed the Security Council’s statement.
One of the latest hacks attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group is an attack on the CoinsPaid platform. The damages total more than $37 million, the administration noted.