Excerpts from an unpublished United Nations summary reveal that sanctions monitors are probing numerous suspected cyberattacks attributed to North Korea, according to a report by Reuters.
The auditors have estimated that the clandestine computer operations against cryptocurrency providers have generated $3 billion, from 58 separate incidents, to support the Stalinist regime’s nuclear weapons program.
As a result of the illicit financing, the dispatch declared that the isolated Asian nation "further developed nuclear weapons and produced nuclear fissile materials.”
Pyongyang has previously refuted accusations of engaging in hacking or other state-sponsored electronic malfeasance.
Since 2006, North Korea has been prohibited by the U.N. Security Council from conducting nuclear tests and launching ballistic missiles. The 15-member committee has repeatedly enhanced the restrictions in an effort to disrupt funding for the country’s WMD development.
Recent efforts to further broaden the sanctioned activities undertaken by the North Korean military have been met with resistance from China and Russia, who both are veto-holding members of the powerful international panel.
North Korea’s U.N. mission did not provide an immediate response to the accusations when requested by Reuters.
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