US sanctions three cybercriminals accused of financing North Korea

25 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has announced sanctions against three individuals accused of providing economic financing to North Korea through cybercrime.

According to a statement published on Monday, those sanctioned “stole virtual assets (digital currency) and helped IT workers fraudulently obtain employment to generate digital economic benefits to support the regime and its illegal weapons of mass destruction and missile programs.”

The operation, carried out in collaboration with the South Korean government, has identified Wu Huihui, Cheng Hung Man and Sim Hyon Sop as alleged perpetrators of these cybercrimes.

Wu, based in China, reportedly helped North Korean workers from the Lazarus group – a cybercrime group responsible for numerous crimes around the world – to transform digital assets into physical money, in a money laundering operation. Cheng would have been sanctioned for helping Wu, and finally Sim would have operated a network of contacts with which he would have coordinated millions of dollars in transfers to North Korea.

As part of the sanctions, the assets of the three individuals in the United States will be blocked, and any financial institution that collaborates with them could face future sanctions from the United States.

The North American country considers North Korea as a country that facilitates cybercrime, and has imposed sanctions against numerous individuals and groups –such as the ‘Lazarus’ group– related to the Internet for accusing them of being one of the pillars of financing the North Korean country.