A big report from the United Nations (UN) has recently shown us how North Korea uses stealing on the internet to help its economy and to make more weapons, which a lot of people don’t agree with. The report says that a lot of the money North Korea makes from other countries comes from these bad online actions, including stealing a lot of digital money.

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• North Korea helps pay for its big, scary weapon programs by stealing money online, especially from places that trade in digital money.
• Since 2017, North Korea has broken into these digital money places 58 times, taking about $3 billion. Just in 2023, they’ve stolen over $750 million.
• The UN report tells us North Korea is not listening to rules set by the world and keeps making its weapons better, which worries a lot of people.

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UN Report Unveils North Korea’s Funding of Weapons Programs Through Cyber Heists

Experts in the UN say these online steals are very important for North Korea because they help pay for about 40% of its really dangerous weapons. This makes people all over the world very worried.

Digging Into North Korea’s Online Steals

The UN looked closely at many times when North Korea broke into digital money businesses since 2017. They think North Korea did this 58 times and got about $3 billion. Especially in 2023, they say North Korea stole more than $750 million this way. This shows us North Korea really wants to get money this way.

By going after these digital money places, North Korean hackers try to get around the tough rules the UN set for them. The UN’s report tells us these actions are a big deal, with one security company even saying North Korea is the top online thief in the world.

North Korea Keeps Ignoring World Rules

While doing all this, North Korea is also making its nuclear and missile stuff better, even though the world told them not to. They won’t conduct any nuclear tests for the last two years, but that does not mean they are giving up the idea of creating high quality and powerful weapons.

In addition to this, the report touches the statement that North Korea lawyers a new missile technology as they test skills suitable for launching military satellites and maybe have got a submarine able to shoot missiles. Such causality creates more concern about the prospect that North Korea’s weapons might escalate into a more dangerous threat serious for everyone.

How the World is Reacting

With all this happening, countries around the world are watching North Korea very closely. The UN group is keeping an eye on North Korea’s online and weapon stuff. This shows how tricky it is to deal with crimes on the internet done by countries and how important it is for everyone to work together to stop these threats.