Trump must still hold North Korea accountable for cyberattacks

Following the U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore earlier this week, Kim Jong Un has temporarily halted ballistic missile and nuclear weapons testing in exchange for President Trump pausing its maximum pressure campaign. Meanwhile, Pyongyang’s cyberattacks against South Korea have intensified. In their latest op-ed for The Hill, FDD research associates Trevor Logan and Mathew Ha point out how this is just one example that exposes Kim’s “two-faced diplomacy.”

An excerpt from the op-ed follows:

“North Korea has intensified cyberattacks on the South, a blatant violation of the pledge Kim made at his April summit with the president of South Korea. Despite the reduction of tensions after the Singapore summit, Pyongyang’s two-faced diplomacy should be a reminder of the critical need for Washington to remain vigilant and maintain sanctions pressure until North Korea fully commits to disarmament and peace.

Last month, South Korea’s government began investigating a wave of alleged North Korean cyberattacks that began before inter-Korean summit on April 27 and continued until at least late May. These attacks targeted sensitive information belonging to South Korean financial companies and to groups focused on North Korea. Although it is still unclear to the total number of infected computers or the type of information stolen, these recent breaches reflect North Korean hackers continuing to exploit South Korea as a testing ground for their cyber capabilities.”

Read the full piece from The Hill here.

Mathew Ha is a research associate at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, where Trevor Logan is a cyber research associate. Follow them on Twitter @Matjunsuk and @TrevorLoganFDD.

Follow the the Foundation for Defense of Democracies on Twitter @FDD.