The FBI blames Pyongyang for the US$6.3 billion Binance theft, a sum one Seoul analyst puts at a sixth of North Korea's national income.
The theft of US$6.3 billion from cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has attributed to North Korea, has drawn fresh attention to the importance of hacking to the sanctioned state's finances, CNA reported from Seoul. Pyongyang denies involvement in what CNA called the biggest cryptocurrency theft in history.
Lee Ho-ryung, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, told CNA that the sum equals roughly one-sixth of North Korea's annual national income, and compared it with exports he estimated at about US$420 million to US$430 million last year. He described a system that picks children gifted in mathematics and science for intensive training in hacking and code-breaking, some of whom later study in China or Russia before joining cyber units tied to the military, state bodies and the ruling party.
North Korea reorganised its hacking units this year, expanding the cyber capabilities of its main intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau. South Korea's military estimates the North's cyber force at about 8,400 people, an increase of around 20% in two years.
Analysts quoted by CNA said theft offers what sanctions have made scarce: money to buy parts and build weapons. A multinational sanctions monitoring report in October 2025 found that North Korea launders stolen crypto and turns it into cash through brokers in countries including China, Russia and Cambodia. Binance has said it has replaced 90% of the stolen funds and will cover the remainder, so that users bear no loss. Seoul's foreign ministry said it is working on the problem with the United States and Japan.
