MADRID 26 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The South Korean government announced this Thursday that it will impose sanctions against 15 North Korean IT workers and one entity for their role in “illicit cyber activities” aimed at obtaining funds for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistics program.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry has indicated in a statement that these activities include “the theft of virtual goods” and “hacking”, before specifying that these activities “pose a serious threat to international peace and security.”
Thus, he has indicated that fourteen of the 15 sanctioned would be members of General Office 313 of the Department of Munitions Industry – subject to United Nations sanctions – and would carry out work abroad to obtain foreign currencies through cyber activities. illegal.
Seoul has assured that this office “sends a large number of telecommunications personnel abroad and uses the funds obtained to finance nuclear and ballistic development.” “In addition, it is involved in the development of military software,” he added in his statement.
Among those sanctioned is Kim Chol Min, who would have worked in the United States and Canada under false identities, as well as Kim Ryu Song, recently indicted in the United States for violations of the sanctions imposed by Washington against North Korea.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry has specified that the sanctioned entity is Chosun Kum Jong Economics Information Technology Exchange, suspected of participating in sending workers abroad and subsequently channeling the money they earn to the authorities, headed by Kim Jong Un.
“Our Government will continue to work with the international community to block North Korea’s illegal cyber activities, with a high level of alert,” he explained, before stating that “these independent sanctions will come into force on December 30, when they will be published in the Official Gazette”.