MAGA
Keep an Eye on North Korean Cybercrime as COVID-19 Spreads
Will North Korea turn to cybercrime as COVID-19 crunches its economy?
The COVID-19 outbreak continues to cause tumult in the global economy, with countries like South Korea and Italy reporting a rapid increase in diagnoses and many companies requesting that employees work from home to keep the virus from spreading. In North Korea’s case, it has had its Chinese borders closed for over a month, long before the rest of the world began to react to the virus. Even if North Korea were, as its state media claims, coronavirus-free, how long could its economy sustain total global isolation? By sealing the border with its largest economic partner, North Korea has effectively placed itself at the mercy of UN sanctions.
Kim Jong Un knows that his country cannot last like this for very long, and with so much of his power stemming from the support of Pyongyang’s elite, we must prepare ourselves for their reaction. Learning from North Korea’s past behavior, national security leaders should be less concerned about military action and focus their attention on shoring up their cyber defenses. Jonathan Corrado, policy director for the Korea Society, noted in a recent article the extreme lengths North Korea has gone to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the country. These border closures, although necessary to reduce the chance of viral contagion, will have a lasting impact on their already minuscule economy. Even prior to the closures, UN Security Council sanctions had already heavily impacted North Korean exports. Yet, despite the cuts to Pyongyang’s exports, World Bank data indicates that North Korea’s GDP has been slowly rising since 2015. This financial discrepancy can be explained primarily through North Korea’s burgeoning international crime economy.
MOAR
https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/keep-an-eye-on-north-korean-cybercrime-as-covid-19-spreads/