North Korea engages in cyberattacks to primarily steal money from banks, a senior US Justice Department official said Thursday. “They’ve used it really to steal banks and money. That’s not really the behavior we see from China or Russia or even Iran despite the Iran sanctions,” John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, told a webinar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He added, “North Korea is kind of unique in that

Displaced North Koreans hit by this year’s typhoons said new homes built by the government were still inhabitable, Radio Free Asia said Wednesday, citing anonymous sources in North Korea. “Except the ones Kim personally directed recovery for, most homes were barely habitable because it was a job half done,” one anonymous source said, referring to leader Kim Jong-un’s personal inspection of the August recovery effort in the hardest-hit North Hwanghae Province. The source

The government is providing 50.9 billion won ($44.9 million) to six cities and provinces that sustained damages from back-to-back typhoons in September. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced Friday that the government will provide 22.3 billion won to Gangwon Province, 19.8 billion won to North Gyeongsang Province and 4.7 billion won to South Gyeongsang Province as special budgetary support. The government will also provide Ulsan with 2.1 billion won, Jeju Island with 1.2 billion wo

The family of the South Korean official killed by North Korean soldiers in North Korean waters continued to accuse the government of “dishonoring” the deceased man by saying he defected to the North due to financial difficulties. The Coast Guard said Thursday that the official, whose job was guiding fishing boats near the inter-Korean maritime border, had been heavily involved in online gambling and had wired gambling money shortly before he went missing. The bereaved family’

With more deaths reported to be possibly connected to flu vaccinations, health authorities said that a direct connection between the deaths and the flu vaccines has not been confirmed. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said the current situation is not so serious as to suspend flu vaccinations. Nevertheless, concerns about the safety of seasonal flu shots are not diminishing, as reports of potential flu shot fatalities are increasing. The number of deaths suspected of being linke

In its long-overdue audit report made public Tuesday, the Board of Audit and Inspection said the economic viability of the country’s second-oldest nuclear reactor was unreasonably undervalued in determining its early closure. The Wolsong-1 reactor in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, was shut down last year, earlier than scheduled, by the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., which cited the negative assessment on the profitability of the facility’s continual operation.