00:00North Korea might be making news as it continues to stir the pot on the peninsula,
00:04launching a record number of missiles in 2022, and restarting their nuclear program.
00:09But now a new report from the United Nations has discovered that just last year,
00:13the country also stole a record amount of cryptocurrency via hacking as well.
00:17The report remains confidential, but according to Reuters who reportedly saw the document,
00:21North Korea stole some $630 million worth of crypto in 2022 alone,
00:27and an independent sanctioned group told the UN that Kim Jong-un's regime, quote,
00:31used increasingly sophisticated cyber techniques, both to gain access to digital networks involved
00:36in cyber finance and to steal information of potential value, including to its weapons programs.
00:41And while $630 million worth of crypto is an estimate based on information provided by South Korea,
00:47that's actually a low ballpark figure. Another unnamed cybersecurity firm estimates that number
00:52is likely closer to a billion dollars. What's worse, sanctions monitoring groups are saying
00:56that this money was likely used to directly fund North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
01:01Meanwhile, blockchain analytics company Chain Analysis says the amount of money stolen by the
01:05North was exponentially more than the country's own $142 million worth of annual exports.
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