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North Korea Amassed Cryptocurrency Through Hacking, Says UN Panel (nikkei.com)
North Korea has used cyberattacks and blockchain technology to circumvent economic sanctions and obtain foreign currency, according to a panel of experts reporting to the U.N. Security Council. From a report: Pyongyang has amassed around $670 million in foreign and virtual currency through cyberthefts, using blockchain technology to cover its tracks, the panel told the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee in its annual report, Nikkei has learned. It is the first time the panel has given details on how North Korea obtains foreign currency through cyberattacks. In its report, the panel recommended that member states "enhance their ability to facilitate robust information exchange on the cyberattacks by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea with other governments and with their own financial institutions," to detect and prevent attempts by North Korea to evade sanctions. The full report obtained by Nikkei, which has been approved by Security Council members for publication next week, says North Korea waged cyberattacks on overseas financial institutions from 2015 to 2018.
I don't think those words mean what you think they mean.
How did this get to +3 Insightful? Pyongyang can print as much money as they want to. They even have equipment to print US dollars, which they frequently do.
Creating money in that manner is a powerful economic tool, but one which can go horribly wrong if not used with caution. If simply issuing currency worked all the time then there would be no need for taxation - and you can be sure that would be a popular political position to take. The problem is inflation: The more the currency is circulating, and less each individual unit is worth. Too much entering circulation not only means the value falls steadily, but can spark a crisis of confidence: If everyone sees their money falling in value then they want to get rid of it, which means it becomes even less valuable, so people try even harder to get rid of it, so the value falls... eventually the cycle reaches the dreaded hyperinflation stage, and you start to see people using wheelbarrows full of currency to buy their groceries and wiping their ass on trillion-dollar bills that are now worth less than toilet paper.