US Court Orders Forfeiture of North Korean Crypto Tied to Money Laundering; Who Is Sim Hyon-sop with a $7 Million Bounty?

A U.S. court has ordered the forfeiture of certain virtual assets linked to the money laundering activities of North Korean overseas IT workers.

According to NK News, a U.S.-focused media outlet on North Korea, Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on the 3rd that funds held in a cryptocurrency wallet starting with the address 'Ox81c4' should be forfeited to the U.S. government.

U.S. prosecutors stated that the cryptocurrency wallet contains 212,700 dollars in stablecoins, equivalent to approximately 285 million won.

They claimed this corresponds to the wages of at least 14 North Korean IT workers.

This ruling came as the U.S. Department of Justice is pursuing a lawsuit to forfeit 7.74 million dollars in cryptocurrency associated with North Korea's overseas workers.

In June of last year, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to forfeit North Korea-related digital assets that had been seized or frozen by the U.S. government between 2022 and 2023.

The funds seized or frozen by U.S. authorities included Binance accounts belonging to individuals named Sim Hyon-sop and Kim Sang-man, whom the U.S. placed on its blacklist in 2023.

Sim Hyon-sop is accused of acting as an agent for Korea Kwangson Banking Corp., which has been targeted by U.S. and United Nations sanctions for its involvement in North Korea's weapons of mass destruction program.

He is reportedly managing digital assets worth 24 million dollars, or approximately 32.2 billion won, which underwent laundering processes.

Sim is also known to play a role in collecting and controlling the wages of North Korean IT workers.

The U.S. Department of Justice has placed a 7 million dollar bounty on information regarding Sim Hyon-sop.

Kim Sang-man is known as an official of the Jinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company, linked to North Korea's Ministry of Defense and operating out of Vladivostok, Russia.

He is accused of laundering funds for North Korean IT workers operating in China, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries.

Reported by Kim Jiuk | Video edited by Kim Na-on | Design by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.