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The company Cybersecurity Recorded Future has issued a long exposure claiming that North Korea uses cryptocurrency to circumvent the economic sanctions imposed by the United States along with a shadow of contributors and activators in Singapore.
The company claims that in addition to extracting coins like bitcoin and monero, North Korean leaders have also been involved in the promotion of cryptocurrency scams that have barred investors in the world to millions of dollars.
The evasion of sanctions supported by North Korean technology
The use of state-of-the-art technology by North Korea to circumvent the effects of economic sanctions imposed on Kim Jong Un's regime is well documented. In September, CCN reported that Washington-based financial experts Lourdes Miranda and Ross Delston accused North Korea of using cryptocurrencies and currency fraud as a means of generating revenue. Earlier this month, CCN also reported that a notorious North Korean hacker group called "Lazarus" is responsible for the theft of over $ 571 million in cryptocurrency.
The Future registered reports that North Korean leaders have unmasked bitcoins and moneros on a relatively small scale, with most of their efforts in the cryptocurrency space since the first quarter of 2018 to today focused on exploiting the growing cryptic awareness globally in order to launch investment scams. Two coins in particular are identified as North Korea scam projects, namely HOLD currency and marine chain.
HOLD Coin, also known as Interstellar, HUZU and Stellar (not to be confused with XLM) used a fraudulent stakeout scheme to collect investors' money, after having been variously listed and removed from a series of exchanges before disappearing with all funds.
The maritime chain, on the other hand, was part of a more sophisticated scam that leads straight to the heart of the North Korean government's ability to consistently diminish the economic sanctions imposed by the UN that would normally paralyze the regime . Presented as a framework for seagoing vessels, an investigation of Future registered in Marine Chain, he revealed a complex Singapore-linked network with potentially far-reaching implications for cyber security in Southeast Asia.
The Singapore connection
According to the information gathered by LinkedIn, a counselor named HyoMong Choi and the Marine Chain CEO, Captain Jonathan Foong Kah Keong are key figures in Marince Chain's porous activities. Reportedly, Captain Foong has connections with Singapore companies that facilitate North Korean activities to evade U.N sanctions. The activities of these companies have been involved in the handling of flag registers for three countries to give prohibited North Korean ships the ability to navigate under flags of convenience.
This means that in addition to being a cryptocurrency swindler, the Capt. Foong is actually part of the key strategy used by the North Korean regime to circumvent the sanctions that should usually make it the most isolated regime on earth, and hold on to power. The appearance of Capt. Foong in the context of North Korean cryptographic scams is significant of a larger focus in the regime's criminal activities as it seeks to exploit the possibilities offered by a new wave of technology, including blockchain technology.
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