- UN sanctions experts warning people to not attend a crypto conference in North Korea to be held next month
- According to a confidential report due to be submitted to the UN Security Council later this month, the conference is flagged as a likely sanctions violation
North Korea’s upcoming blockchain and crypto conference is due on Feb. 22 to 29. An excerpt from the upcoming annual report by UN sanctions experts warns that the presentations at the conference “have included explicit discussions of cryptocurrency for sanctions evasion and money laundering,” reported Reuters.
The full report is due to be submitted to the UN Security Council North Korea sanctions committee later this month.
North Korea’s cyber program, according to a British government spokesman, was actually used to collect information, evade sanctions and generate revenue. He said,
“Supporting the DPRK’s use of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology risks violating the Security Council’s resolutions because it would unavoidably increase the DPRK’s (North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) ability to subvert sanctions and generate revenue for its weapons programs.”
North Korea using Crypto to Evade Sanctions
Back in August, last year independent UN experts told the UN Security Council that North Korea generated an estimated $2 billion by using “widespread and increasingly sophisticated” cyberattacks to steal from banks and crypto exchanges to fund its weapons of mass destruction programs.
The country is under UN sanctions since 2006 per its ballistic and nuclear missile programs. These measures have been strengthened over the years that prompted Pyingang to look for alternate ways to make money.
North Korea held its first blockchain and crypto conference in April last year. Apparently, 80 organizations took part in this conference.
Americans are welcome, No Evidence of entry promised
Ethereum developer, Virgil Griffith was arrested after speaking at the conference has been indicted, now awaiting trial. He has been granted bail on a $1 million bond.
US prosecutors said Griffith had been encouraging other US citizens to attend this upcoming conference in North Korea. The U.N. sanctions experts wrote in the excerpt from the upcoming report,
“Although the press was not allowed to attend the conference and its proceedings were not published openly, the recent indictment of an American for sanctions violations sheds light on the intended purpose of the conference.”
The conference website states that Americans are welcome to attend and their passports won’t be stamped “so there will be no evidence of your entry to the country.”
