Sec. 10. Report on North Korean cyber activities to fund its weapons program
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/bill/117/s/4824/is/section-10A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
As North Korea continues to be cut off from the international financial system, North Korea increasingly relies on new methods and means—such as cryptocurrency, digital currency, and cyberattacks—to finance its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs. A February 2022 United Nations report found that North Korean hackers stole more than $50,000,000 in cryptocurrencies between 2020 and mid-2021. The report follows the United Nations’ 2019 findings that North Korea had accumulated an estimated $2,000,000,000 in stolen assets to facilitate its weapons program through cyberattacks.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Attorney General, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on North Korea’s use of cyberattacks and cryptocurrency and other digital currency to finance its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs, including through the evasion of sanctions.
The report required under subparagraph
(A)shall include— a review of how North Korea uses cyberattacks, including stealing virtual assets, to support its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs; a discussion of how cryptocurrency exchanges and exchange operators facilitate North Korean theft, and recommendations for sanctioning persons and entities linked to illicit cryptocurrency exchange; a review of how the United States Government is tracing, disrupting, interdicting, and deterring these attacks, including— efforts to deter telecommunications companies from facilitating North Korean cyberattacks directed at digital financial platforms; efforts to deter over-the-counter
(OTC)brokers and other actors from laundering digital assets and converting such assets to fiat currencies; efforts to coordinate cryptocurrency regulations with partners and allies, including through forums like the United Nations, the Financial Action Task Force, the Group of Seven, and the Group of Twenty; and efforts to increase intelligence sharing on cyber threats with partners and allies to better trace North Korean cyberattacks and cyber theft of digital assets; and a review of how the United States Government is working with its allies and partners, as well as international institutions and the private sector, to trace, disrupt, interdict, and deter North Korea’s cyberattacks.