WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) has released a report on North Korea's violations and evasions of UN Security Council resolutions through cyber operations and IT worker activities. The MSMT is a multilateral mechanism established in October 2024 to monitor and report on the implementation of UN sanctions measures relating to North Korea.
This report, the second report published by the MSMT following the May 2025 report on unlawful military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, details the deep connections between UN-designated North Korean entities and Pyongyang's malicious cyber activities, including cryptocurrency theft, fraudulent IT work, and cyber espionage. The report consolidates information provided by MSMT participating states and the private sector related to North Korea's sanctions violation and evasion activity, and illustrates its ongoing exploitation of foreign governments, private businesses, and the public to steal and fraudulently obtain billions of dollars for its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. UN-designated North Korean entities, including the Reconnaissance General Bureau, carry out many of these activities to evade the asset freeze imposed in UNSCR 1718.
The MSMT is sharing this information to provide the international community with critical information to protect their governments, private businesses, and citizens from DPRK cyber actors and IT worker schemes. 'We encourage all UN member states to raise awareness about the DPRK's malicious cyber activities and hold responsible parties accountable for UNSCR violations, including through sanctions,' MSMT said in a joint statement.
The Governments of the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United Kingdom are signatories to the statement.
This report addresses the monitoring gap created by the disbandment of the UN Security Council's 1718 Committee Panel of Experts in April 2024, caused by Russia's veto in March 2024. The report will assist with the full implementation of UN resolutions by the international community. Considering the continued violations and evasions of relevant UN Security Council resolutions, the nations urged the Security Council to reestablish the Panel of Experts in the same strength and structure it had prior to its disbandment.
They called on North Korea to engage in meaningful diplomacy, and on all UN Member States to join global efforts to maintain international peace and security in the face of ongoing threats from the country.
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