South Korean police link North Korea to $41.5M Upbit crypto theft

South Korean police have confirmed that North Korea was behind the theft of 58 billion won ($41.5 million) in virtual assets from South Korea's crypto exchange, Upbit, five years ago, Yonhap News Agency reported. This marks the first time South Korean authorities have publicly acknowledged North Korea's involvement in a crypto hacking incident. According to the investigation, the Lazarus and Andariel hacker groups, which are part of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau, orchestrated the theft of 342,000 Ether from Upbit in November 2019. The hackers exchanged 57% of the stolen Ether for Bitcoin, securing a rate 2.5% below market value through three crypto exchanges operated by North Korea. The remainder of the funds was distributed and laundered across 51 global exchanges. In October 2020, police located some of the stolen assets in a Swiss trading platform, and in October of this year, they recovered 4.8 BTC ($456,000) and returned it to Upbit.