Officials from the United States, South Korea, and Japan joined forces to tackle North Korea’s cryptocurrency thefts and its nuclear and missile programs. The White House announced this meeting where U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Republic of Korea National Security Advisor Cho Tae-Yong, and Japan National Security Advisor Takeo Akiba met up in Seoul, South Korea. They covered a range of issues, especially focusing on North Korea’s weapons programs.
The discussions went into checking the progress on joint plans, like their Commitment to Consult during regional crises and sharing data on defense against ballistic missiles. They also delved into how to collectively deal with North Korea using cryptocurrency to bankroll its shady weapons projects.
The world has been keeping a close eye on North Korea’s crypto moves. The U.S. government had previously accused the Lazarus Group, supposedly linked to North Korea, of swiping more than $600 million from Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge in 2022.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) took action by putting sanctions on several crypto mixers thought to be used by North Korean hackers for washing stolen money. Recently, OFAC added two crypto addresses tied to the Sinbad mixer to its sanctions list, and Sinbad’s website got nabbed by law enforcement from various countries. Tornado Cash, a privacy tool, also got on the OFAC’s hit list, accused of cleaning over $100 million in pilfered cryptocurrency.
