SEOUL, Feb. 10 (UPI) — South Korea imposed sanctions against North Korea on Friday in a response to cybercrimes that Seoul says are being used to fund the secretive state’s illicit nuclear and missile development programs.
The sanctions target four North Korean individuals and seven entities, the South’s Foreign Ministry announced, including the notorious hacker collective Lazarus Group, which has been tied to hundreds of millions of dollars of cryptocurrency heists.
The actions are South Korea’s first independent sanctions against Pyongyang in the cyber sector, the ministry said.
“It is expected that the South Korean government’s designation of the subjects of independent sanctions will have the effect of drawing attention to the risks of trading with them and raising awareness in the international community as well as in Korea,” the ministry said in a statement.
North Korean hackers have stolen more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency since 2017, according to data released Friday by the ministry. More than $600 million of that came in a single heist last March from an online video game network by Lazarus Group.
Malicious cyber attacks account for 30% of North Korea’s missile development costs, the ministry said.
The blacklisted individuals include Park Jin Hyok, a hacker who is on the FBI’s Most Wanted list of cybercriminals and is connected to the cyberattacks on Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014 and the WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017.
In addition to the Lazarus Group, other entities sanctioned by South Korea include Pyongyang Automation University, regarded as the main training center for hackers in North Korea. It is the first time the school has appeared on any country’s blacklist.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry also issued pamphlets Friday detailing the techniques behind North Korea’s cryptocurrency heists and warning companies against inadvertently hiring North Korean IT workers with disguised identities.
The moves came on the heels of a North Korean military parade in Pyongyang on Wendesday night, which showed off at least 11 Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missiles as well as launch vehicles believed to carry new solid-fuel ICBMs.
A U.N. panel of experts that monitors sanctions reported in March that North Korea is using hacking in an effort to access sensitive technology and generate funds for its illicit nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs.
On Thursday, U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies issued a joint advisory warning of North Korea’s ongoing ransomware threats against healthcare and other critical infrastructure organizations.