Another Tool in the Arsenal

Amid the continuing leitmotif of missile tests, nuclear weapons development, and unwavering anti-South Korean and anti-U.S. rhetoric, North Korea’s cyber activities have once again risen in the order of importance among security and political circles. The latest North Korean cyber-episode was the revelation made by South Korean authorities that North Korea has been engaged in, at a minimum, a campaign of cyber-espionage against two South Korean conglomerates and a number of national security officials. This latest episode once again has many people pondering about North Korea’s exact cyber capability and why it is devoting its extremely limited state resources to the development of said capability.

An assessment of North Korea’s cyber capability, or any of its other capabilities for that matter, is inherently hampered due to several significant limitations. First, North Korea is one of the most – if not the most – opaque countries in the world, and its government does not publish any data relevant in this or related areas that can be used or trusted. Furthermore, any data or information one may acquire are often outdated.