S. Korea, U.S. stress close collaboration against N.K. cyberthreats during working group talks

Diplomats from South Korea and the United States underscored close bilateral collaboration to counter North Korea’s “malicious” cyber activities meant to fund its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs during a working group meeting in Washington this week, the State Department said Thursday.

Lee Jun-il, director general for North Korean nuclear affairs at Seoul’s foreign ministry, and U.S. Deputy Special Representative for North Korea Lyn Debevoise led the sixth session of the working group on North Korean cyberthreats Wednesday and Thursday.

“The meeting underscored the continued close collaboration between the U.S. and ROK governments to disrupt the DPRK’s ability to generate illicit revenue through malicious cyber activity, which it uses to fund its unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs,” the department said in a media note.

ROK and DPRK stand for the official names of South Korea and North Korea, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, respectively.

The department also said that Seoul and Washington are pursuing “a wide range of actions” to prevent and disrupt North Korea’s cryptocurrency heists, address its cyber espionage against the defense sector, and dismantle the North Korean IT worker infrastructure and networks.

“The Working Group meeting also focused on coordinated diplomatic outreach, information sharing and capacity building for nations vulnerable to the DPRK cyberthreat,” it added.

The meeting coincided with the allies’ issuance of joint sanctions against fewer than 10 North Korean nationals and third-country entities accused of helping finance Pyongyang’s WMD programs.