Vietnam was the next largest victim, having lost $540m, the US following with $497m and finally Hong Kong, which suffered losses to the Diplomatic Republic of North Korea (DPRK) of $281m.

Hackers linked to the government in Pyongyang regularly target foreign adversaries looking to steal funds.

By Claudia Glover, techmonitor

North Korean hackers have stolen cryptocurrencies worth $721m from Japan in the past five years, a report revealed this week. The long history of animosity between the countries, and the close association between Japan and the US, is likely to be behind the trend, researchers say.

This figure is equal to 30% of the total of such losses worldwide, states the report. The research was carried out by UK cryptocurrency research company Elliptic on behalf of Asia Nikkei.

North Korea has stolen $721m from Japan since 2017

According to Elliptic’s findings, Japan is the worst hit by North Korea’s worldwide cryptocurrency raids, suffering $721m in thefts out of a global $2.3bn between 2017 and the end of 2022. 

Vietnam was the next largest victim, having lost $540m, the US following with $497m and finally Hong Kong, which suffered losses to the Diplomatic Republic of North Korea (DPRK) of $281m.

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