A South Korean man in his fifties, who stood at the top of a criminal network, got charged after leading operations to create and sell illegal gambling sites. Investigators said North Korean hackers from the Munitions Industry Department’s 313 Bureau helped him, and these hackers worked inside China. Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office indicted this man, surnamed Kim, for three main crimes, including breaking the National Security Act, running illegal gambling websites, and hiding criminal profits.
Through secret communications, Kim worked with hackers from the 313 Bureau, asking them to set up sixteen illegal gambling platforms between 2022 and 2024, which were later sold inside South Korea. Problems would come up sometimes, so Kim talked to the North Korean hackers for technical help operating these gambling sites. Those hackers didn’t just build the online platforms; they also gave Kim special advertisement macro programs so the sites could spread faster on the internet.
It was officially verified that Kim sent 1,181 messages in just two months, from October to November 2023, by using Telegram and other messenger apps to talk with two North Korean hackers. Kim, with this kind of backing, operated and distributed the illegal gambling websites in South Korea from March 2021 until August 2024, earning about 23.5 billion won, which is $17.2 million, through site upkeep fees and commissions from gambling credits.
North Korea’s 313 Bureau manages the country’s IT projects, often using fake companies in places such as Dandong, China, to gather foreign money and make illegal software. At least 7 billion won from Kim’s 23.5 billion won revenue got sent to the North Korean hackers. Authorities suspect this cash ended up supporting North Korea’s government, possibly as ruling funds for the regime led by Kim Jong-un. So he could widen his illegal gambling network and avoid Korean law enforcement, Kim stayed in China.
Early in 2023, the National Intelligence Service learned that a South Korean individual in China kept distributing illegal gambling sites across South Korea. To make his illegal gambling site bigger and escape police attention, Kim chose to live in China. At the beginning of 2023, the National Intelligence Service received tip-offs about a South Korean person in China who kept running illegal gambling sites targeting South Korea.
Police from the Seoul Metropolitan unit’s National Security Investigation Division arrested Kim when he returned to his home country in November 2023. After spending one and a half years investigating this case, police finally caught and jailed Kim on May 7.
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