▲ Jonathan Fritz, principal deputy assistant secretary at the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, speaks during a press briefing at the Foreign Press Center in New York on Jan. 12, 2026. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) N Korea-crypto thefts

(LEAD) N. Korea likely stole over US$2 billion in cryptocurrency last year: U.S. official

(ATTN: ADDS more remarks in paras 12-15)

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea likely stole over US$2 billion in cryptocurrency last year, a U.S. official said Monday, amid growing concerns that its revenue from virtual asset heists continues to bankroll its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Jonathan Fritz, principal deputy assistant secretary at the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, delivered a presentation during a U.N. meeting on a Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) report detailing the North's sanctions violation and evasion through cyber and information technology (IT) worker activities.

The MSMT was established after a U.N. expert panel, tasked with monitoring sanctions enforcement, was disbanded in April 2024 due to Russia's veto of a resolution to extend its mandate. It consists of 11 countries, including South Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia and Canada.

Fritz's document based on the MSMT report showed that from January last year through September, Pyongyang had stolen more than $1.6 billion in crypto thefts, with the total amount during the entire 2025 likely to exceed $2 billion.

The assessment is in line with an estimate from Chainalysis, a blockchain data platform, which has said that North Korean hackers stole $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025, a 51 percent year-over-year increase.

From January 2024 to September last year, the recalcitrant country stole over $2.8 billion, according to the MSMT document.

"It's worth noting it's a conservative low-end estimate. The actual number is likely higher," Fritz said.

The U.S. official pointed out that North Korea relies on networks of its nationals abroad and foreign-based facilitators, including in China, Russia, Cambodia and Vietnam, to launder stolen digital assets into fiat currency for procurement activities and for funding its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.

In addition, he said that Pyongyang has deployed many IT workers overseas, including 1,000 to 1,500 workers in China and 150 to 300 workers in Russia, who engage in fraudulent activities to generate revenue for the North Korean regime.

"These IT workers defraud global companies to gain otherwise legitimate jobs, taking employment opportunities from our own domestic populations and exposing our businesses to serious risk," Fritz said.

"Like DPRK cyber actors, these DPRK IT workers also rely on foreign facilitators from across U.N. member states to secure employment, to provide support and to remit earnings back to DPRK entities." DPRK is short for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

During a press briefing prior to the U.N. meeting, Fritz described addressing North Korea's illicit cyber activities as a "top priority" for the U.S.

"Because it involves protecting American citizens and American businesses who face a major national security challenge: North Koreans are taking American jobs, and they're stealing cryptocurrency from American owners of said cryptocurrency," he said, according to a transcript from the Foreign Press Centers.

Asked if there is any ongoing communication between Washington and Pyongyang about a potential meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the official said that he has "nothing to report" at this point.

"As I said, President Trump has made it clear that he would be willing to speak with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un," he said. "The ball is in the North Korean court."

During the U.N. meeting, Kim Sang-jin, South Korea's deputy envoy to the U.N., criticized Russia's use of a veto in 2024 that led to the disbandment of the U.N. sanctions monitoring panel, highlighting that the U.N. sanctions regime against North Korea is being constantly challenged by "malign actors across the globe."

Kim also underscored that the MSMT report reveals the "frightening situation where DPRK is financing its unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs by exploiting the crypto industry and systematically undermining the integrity of the global financial systems."

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