WHY HACKING PAYS OFF
For North Korea, hacking offers something international sanctions have made increasingly difficult to obtain: money.
Pyongyang has denied involvement in the Binance hack, the biggest cryptocurrency heist in history.
KIDA’s Lee, however, estimates the US$6.3 billion that was stolen is equivalent to roughly one-sixth of North Korea’s annual national income.
He also noted that North Korea’s exports last year were only around US$420 million to US$430 million.
Binance has since said it has replaced 90 per cent of the amount stolen and it is “committed to covering the remaining 10 per cent”. The crypto exchange has also vowed that users will not bear the financial impact of the incident.
Analysts say such cyber thefts could be helping to fund North Korea’s weapons programmes.
The country remains under multiple international sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile activities, limiting its ability to acquire materials and technology through conventional channels.
“To make those, North Korea doesn’t have all the parts,” Lee said, referring to weapons systems.
“It has to buy the parts, make the weapons and build factories. So how did it cover those costs? In the end, it would have been with money that came in through financial theft.”
A multinational sanctions monitoring report that was published in October 2025 found that North Korea launders stolen crypto before converting it into cash through overseas brokers in countries including China, Russia and Cambodia.
