Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the recent $1.5 billion cryptocurrency theft by North Korea; what steps he has taken to trace the assets and prevent further illicit transactions; what steps have been discussed to strengthen security protocols; and whether this has included the imposition of sanctions on cryptocurrency and related entities linked to North Korea.

The UK Government is aware of reporting relating to the recent cyber activity linked to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, involving the cryptocurrency exchange ByBit. The UK has been consistent in challenging malicious cyber activity carried out by North Korean groups. This has included exposing and sanctioning North Korean actors for disruptive attacks that impacted the NHS. The National Cyber Security Centre has also issued multiple Cyber Security Advisories specifically on threats from North Korean groups, informing UK technical audience on the way these groups operate and ways to defend against them. We do not comment on future sanctions as this could affect their impact.