UN Accuses North Korea of Money Laundering Through A Hong-Kong Based Blockchain Firm
The United Nations Security Council’s Sanctions Committee has accused North Korea of laundering money by using a Hong Kong based blockchain firm.
On Nov. 6, South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that the UN Committee conducted an investigation into various strategies that were employed by North Korea to avoid sanctions using cryptocurrencies and other methods.
Allegations Made By The Committee
UN Committee accuses “Marine China”, a blockchain-based logistics and shipping firm that is registered in Hong Kong. The Committee reveals that the firm is actually created by North Korean actors with its owner and sole investor named-Julian Kim, operating under the alias “Tony Walker.”
Julian reportedly appointed an unnamed individual to head the firm while attempted to withdraw undisclosed sums of cash several times from Singaporean banks.
The intelligence service of North Korea is also accused of using children and grooming them into cyber agents to utilize them in the future into stealing cryptocurrencies.
The investigation revealed that the notorious cryptocurrency stealing crime committee committed by North Korea in 2018 was converted into cash through at least 5,000 distinct transactions across multiple countries to make the money laundering “untraceable”.
North Korea’s Own CBDC
On Sept 20. cryptonewspoint reported that North Korea is developing its own cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin (BTC) in order to evade international sanctions and to fight against “the U.S. dominated global financial system.”
However, the North Korean Embassy to the United Nations did not confirm or deny to the news.
Source: THE CHOSUNILBO Image: Shutterstock