South Korea, US team up to craft new strategies against North Korean crypto heists: report

The U.S. and South Korea have reportedly partnered to develop tools aimed at countering North Korea-linked crypto thefts and tracking billions of dollars in stolen digital assets.

The United States and South Korea are said to be working together to create new mechanisms to prevent crypto thefts linked to North Korea, South Korea’s news agency Yonhap News reports.

The two countries have reportedly signed an agreement to jointly create technologies to stop crypto thefts. While details remain unclear, South Korea’s science ministry will also support the initiative through 2026. The collaboration comes as the total amount of stolen crypto by hackers from North Korea has neared $1.6 billion this year, Chainalysis reported earlier.

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The report notes that researchers from both countries, including experts from Korea University and RAND Corp., will focus on tracking stolen crypto and preventing attacks. They will also investigate how criminals launder stolen funds into crypto using methods like ransomware.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is taking further steps to address North Korean activity in the crypto space. As crypto.news reported earlier, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on two individuals and a company in the United Arab Emirates for their involvement in laundering money from cybercrimes to support North Korea.

The regulator said the two individuals worked through a UAE-based company to convert stolen funds into crypto, which was then sent to North Korea.

Read more: Study found North Korea posing as IT workers to steal billion dollars

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