N. Korea's suspected bitcoin hacking monitored by S. Korean gov't

통일부 "비트코인 관련 북한 동향 지켜보고 있다" As bitcoin receives greater recognition with more derivatives introduced... North Korea is moving to grab a bite of that pie. The regime's hackers are suspected of breaking into stashes of cryptocurrencies to find new sources of revenue. And as our Ji Myung-kil tells us... Seoul's government is closely monitoring those activities. South Korea's unification ministry is keeping close tabs on North Korea's bitcoin related activities... as the crypto-currency is a new target for Pyongyang's hacking operations. (Korean) "We are aware that North Korea has been engaged in various activities so far to evade sanctions and earn foreign currency." The increased economic sanctions against North Korea could be driving the North's interest in bitcoin... as its price has soared from under 1-thousand U.S. dollars at the end of 2016 to more than 18-thousand dollars just a few days ago. When asked whether the South Korean government has detected any concrete signs or evidence of North Korea getting involved with the crypto-currency... (Korean) "We're monitoring North Korea's trend related to bitcoin." The unification ministry spokesperson added that the government was cooperating with the National Cyber Security Center and other relevant agencies to prevent North Korea from hacking into crypto-currencies. Information security experts said measures were needed to protect crypto-currency investors. (Korean) "Virtual money exchanges should seek better security protection for their investors and enhance transparency in crypto-currency trade." The expert also advised the government to form a task force to consider whether to levy taxes on financial gains from trade in virtual currencies after a study of foreign cases. South Korea is home to one of the world's largest bitcoin exchanges, with about 1-million people estimated to own some of the best-known digital currency. Ji Myung-kil, Arirang News.