Bini Dahal

North Korea is one of the very few nations that remains completely secluded from the outside world. But the communist country's extent of abilities is beyond one's imagination -- be it nuclear expansion or hacking.
From The Lazarus Heist- Episode 10 produced by the BBC, we hear shocking news about the country. The podcast revolves around a 2016 hacking incident that Bangladesh Bank was a target of. A group of North Korean hackers, popularly known as the Lazarus Group, was nearly successful in hacking a billion dollars from the vault of the central bank of Bangladesh. Thankfully, it was prevented by a minor coincidence only.
These hackers had been trained since their young age to become expert hackers by the North Korean regime. Interestingly, they were able to enter into the computer system in 2015 by sending a fake CV to the bank, which wwas downloaded by one of the officials. With continuous planning, the execution finally began in 2016. Suddenly, a printer that used to print important documents related to the million-dollar transactions was not working. Forced to reboot the printer, the officials then received a message from the Federal Reserves of the US about an instruction to empty nearly US$ 1 billion that the reserve bank had in its vault.
The hacking dates had been strategically planned between the three time zones namely, New York, Bangladesh and the Philippines. The hackers were planning to send US$ 951 million to a dormant bank account in the Philippines. The bank was located in “Jupiter Street” of Manila. The name Jupiter, which also indicates a sanctioned Iranian shipping vessel, caught the attention of the Federal Reserve.
Although they were able to protect most money, US$ 81 million was slipped out of the hands of Bangladesh Bank. That hacking was economically damaging to Bangladesh where poverty is still rampant. But for North Korea, something is better than nothing. The country’s hope to become a nuclear power requires extensive financial support. So, the North Korean regime has been training and utilising its own citizens as a way to bring money into the country. Yet, the situation of the common people is quite heartbreaking. They are struggling to get basics like food and electricity. And the country’s economy is in tatters.
In such a situation, hacking further widens the inequality that has deeply rooted in the country. The rich continue getting richer while the poor keep on becoming poorer. Neither will this situation benefit North Korea nor any other country in the world. In an era of mutual and interdependence, this nation should change its ways.
The envisioned dream of the Kim regime has been a threat to South Korea as well as many other nations.
As long as North Korea continues playing these games, there will be no end to this. We might have to wait for years and years to see a country that will put the welfare of people and the country's development above everything else. All we can do is only hope for it.