Seoul, US pledge to step up efforts to cut off illicit funds to NK weapons program

A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 20, AP-Yonhap

South Korea and the United States have agreed to intensify their joint efforts to cut off illicit funds being funneled to North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs, the South Korean foreign ministry said Wednesday.

The agreement came in the third U.S.-South Korea working group meeting on North Korean cyber threats held here in Washington on Tuesday.

"South Korea and the U.S. discussed concrete ways to block North Korea's illicit cyber activities such as cryptocurrency heist and overseas deployment of North Korean information technology (IT) workers that have become a major source of hard currency for the North Korean regime," the foreign ministry said of the meeting in a press release.

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"The two sides reviewed various ways such as expanding private-public sector cooperation, imposing additional sanctions and strengthening joint investigation of the countries to actively counter North Korea's evolving cryptocurrency theft methods," it added.

The countries also noted that they have already made a considerable level of progress in dealing with multiple cryptocurrency heist cases by freezing and seizing assets stolen by North Korean actors, according to the foreign ministry.

The South Korean delegation to the working group meeting was led by Lee Joon-il, director-general for North Korean nuclear affairs. The U.S. side was headed by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Jung Pak, who concurrently serves as deputy special envoy for North Korea. (Yonhap)

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