KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — Collaborative efforts are vital to counter growing cyberattack threat posed by North Korea targetting financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges in ASEAN member states including Malaysia, said South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin.
“The first and most important step is to collaborate on raising awareness about their illegal cyber activities.
“To this end, my government has been working closely with ASEAN countries. It is also concerning that North Korea has deployed IT workers all over the world including to ASEAN countries, and used their earnings for nuclear and missile development.
“We need to work together to repatriate these IT workers in accordance with relevant United Nations (UN) Security Council resolutions,” said the minister to Bernama in an exclusive interview held at the end of his inaugural two-day visit here that started Monday (May 1).
According to data provided by the South Korean government, the total amount of cryptocurrency stolen by Pyongyang since 2017 recorded over US$1.2 billion and approximately around US$626 million so far this year alone.
Park, on Tuesday, met his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir where they both discussed the way forward in strengthening Malaysia-South Korea’s long-standing relations and multifaceted cooperation.
High on the agenda was cooperation in trade and investment, digital economy, green energy, culture, defence and education, alongside exchanges of views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
He also paid a courtesy call on Anwar where he conveyed Yoon’s best regards to the prime minister.
Earlier, he delivered a special lecture on the future of South Korea-Malaysia relations at the University of Malaya (UM) and later attended the opening ceremony of the Hallyu-Korean Wave Exhibition, hosted by the South Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur and Balai Seni Negara (Malaysian National Art Gallery).
