North Korea has been coordinating large-scale crypto hacking operations in a bid to fund its missile programmes

Estimates suggest the nation has stolen more than $50 million of digital assets between 2020 and mid-2021, with the attacks serving as an important revenue source for the rogue nation.

The findings were provided to the United Nation’s sanctions committee, with reports the attackers targeted crypto platforms in North America, Europe and Asia.

These recent reports follow allegations the country also accumulated a wealth of over 2 billion dollars for its weapons programmes in 2019 by using similar tactics.

There has been a notable acceleration in the number of missile tests conducted by North Korea in recent months, despite such tests being banned by the UN’s Security Council.

The US say that North Korea – formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted nine missile tests last month, even though the UN previously imposed strict and wide-ranging sanctions on the country in an attempt to deter such activities.

“DPRK demonstrated increased capabilities for rapid deployment, wide mobility (including at sea), and improved resilience of its missile forces,” 

sanction monitors say.

These sanctions have so-far failed to prevent PYONG-YANG from developing its missile infrastructure.

Both China and Russia refused to sign a statement on Friday condemning the rapid increases of North Korea’s missile launches.

The US announced that later this week its special representative for North Korea would meet with Japanese and South Korean officials to discuss the situation.

Also written by Savannah Pocock