[Anchor]

North Korea's cyber warfare personnel is estimated to reach 8,400. In addition, top-tier elites are being newly trained each year. Kim Jong Un also recently announced plans to expand the mission of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, which commands North Korea's hacker units.

Reporter Kim Ayeong analyzes the current (HYUNJAE) extent of North Korea's hacker capabilities.

[Reporter]

A man in military uniform with a badge on his chest appears to be working on something in front of a computer.

This is a video released by an overseas cybersecurity YouTuber who claimed to have succeeded in hacking the computers of North Korean soldiers.

Videos claiming to show verbal spats between overseas hackers and North Korean cyber personnel can also be found on social media.

[("(How did you track my IP?)" "Why don't you go ask Kim Jong Un.")]

The South Korean military estimates that North Korea's cyber personnel, including hackers operating both inside and outside the country, numbered about 8,400 as of 2024, an increase of 20% in just two years.

The number of individual hacking groups named overseas, such as Lazarus and Kimsuky, and the size of each group remain veiled in secrecy.

[Kim Heung-kwang / Former North Korean Professor of Computer Engineering: "Because they operate within Russian territory, it is even harder to track them down. Just as countless worker bees attach to a queen bee, a few of the brightest hackers form the core, with mathematicians joining them, and international financial experts joining as well."]

General Secretary Kim Jong Un is known to have emphasized cyber capabilities as one of the so-called 'two treasured swords' alongside nuclear missiles since the beginning of his rule.

[Lim Jong-in / Chair Professor at Korea University Graduate School of Information Security: "(North Korea) is training 100 top-tier hackers every year. In our terms, students capable of getting into Seoul National University College of Medicine are all being trained as hackers in cybersecurity."]

In July, General Secretary Kim announced that he would expand the functions and duties of the Reconnaissance General Bureau under the General Staff Department of the Korean People's Army, which is cited as commanding the hacker units.

North Korea, however, has not released any response yet to the FBI identifying them as being behind the Binance incident.

(Video by Lee Seung-jin)