Two Taiwanese were among a group of suspects indicted in Boston on Monday in connection with an alleged scheme to generate revenue for North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction programs, US prosecutors said.
The two Taiwanese suspects, identified as Liu Meng-ting and Liu En-chia, were among nine suspects indicted in the scheme that raised at least US$5 million in revenue for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), US Attorney Leah Foley’s office said.
Aside from the two Taiwanese, six Chinese and one American were indicted in the case.
Photo: Reuters
The statement from Foley’s office did not detail whether the suspects were being detained.
The DPRK government has dispatched thousands of skilled information technology (IT) workers around the world in response to US and UN sanctions to steal the identities of US nationals and pose as American workers to obtain remote IT jobs and generate revenue for DPRK weapons of mass destruction programs, court documents said.
Between 2021 and October last year, those indicted in connection with the scheme allegedly transmitted fake and misleading information to dozens of US companies, financial institutions and government agencies.
The IT workers employed also gained access to sensitive employer data and source codes including International Traffic in Arms Regulations data from a California-based defense contractor that develops artificial intelligence-powered equipment and technologies.
In doing so, the suspects and their co-conspirators compromised the identities of more than 80 US citizens, and fraudulently obtained remote jobs at more than 100 US companies, including several Fortune 500 companies and a defense contractor, Foley’s office said.
They also accessed internal information from the companies and generated US$5 million in revenue, it said.
“The threat posed by DPRK operatives is both real and immediate. Thousands of North Korean cyberoperatives have been trained and deployed by the regime to blend into the global digital workforce and systematically target US companies,” Foley was quoted as saying in the statement.
“We will continue to work relentlessly to protect US businesses and ensure they are not inadvertently fueling the DPRK’s unlawful and dangerous ambitions,” Foley was quoted as saying.
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
RSS