Kim Jong Un’s Secrets: North Korea’s Suspicious Activities Exposed, Espionage, Weapons, and More

North Korea is reported to have supported Russia, which is at war with Ukraine, by exporting over a million rounds of ammunition and other weapons. It was also detected that Kim Jong-un was seeking comprehensive support for Palestine, which is at war with Israel. It was understood that to secure the funds for this, smuggling and exploitation of residents were being intensified.

The National Intelligence Service reported such trends in North Korea at a closed-door state audit of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee held at the National Intelligence Service in Naegok-dong, Seoul, on the 1st.

According to the content disclosed to reporters by Yoo Sang-bum, a member of the People’s Power, who is the secretary of the Intelligence Committee, the National Intelligence Service reported, “We understand that North Korea has transported various weapons such as shells using Russian ships and transport planes to support Russia’s war in Ukraine since early August.”

The National Intelligence Service analyzed that “the shells transported from Najein Port in North Korea to Dunai and Bostochiny Port in Russia by ship arrived at the Tihoretsk ammunition depot near Ukraine by train.” The National Intelligence Service explained, “We understand that the exported shells are over a million rounds, which can be used for more than two months in the Russia-Ukraine war situation.”

In addition, the National Intelligence Service reported, “We have also obtained evidence that North Korea dispatched a delegation composed mainly of artillery experts to Russia in mid-October to pass on the operation of weapons. North Korea is fully operating the military factory to meet Russia’s demand for military supplies, and civilians and residents are also mobilized to produce ammunition boxes for export.”

The National Intelligence Service also revealed, “On the contrary, it is understood that they are selecting candidates to receive entrusted flight maintenance education in Russia to bring in aircraft such as fighters and passenger planes from Russia. However, the stability and expansion of such close ties between North Korea and Russia are limited in the special international environment of the Ukraine war.”

Regarding the trend of North Korea’s nuclear missile advancement, the National Intelligence Service assessed that “Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, is conducting a full-scale war exercise that includes conducting combined command training and tactical nuclear strike training and considering the integrated operation of conventional forces. In September, he commanded a tactical nuclear attack submarine, concretizing a nuclear hostage strategy.”

“We understand that preparations for the third launch of the so-called military reconnaissance satellite, publicly announced in October, are in full swing, including recent engine and launch device inspections. We predict that the probability of success will increase as it appears to have received technical advice from Russia,” the agency said.

However, it was also explained that “the technology and funds are still insufficient, and it appears that they have not secured the reentry technology of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) atmosphere, and the development of a nuclear-powered submarine equipped with a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is also difficult.”

The National Intelligence Service also found that North Korea is intensifying smuggling and exploitation of residents to secure resources for external actions such as nuclear missile advancement and support for Russian military supplies.

They explained, “The scale of North Korea’s smuggling of gold bars has surged to 1,800 kilograms (about $110 million), three times that of last year, and it is understood that they are searching homes of residents by the directive to ban the concealment and illegal distribution of grains.”

The National Intelligence Service also detected that North Korea is currently exploring ways to support Palestine.

NIS reported, “We understand that North Korea is trying to use the Israel-Hamas war in various ways. We have detected that Kim Jong-un recently ordered to find ways to support Palestine comprehensively.”

Not only that but “since there is a precedent for North Korea exporting tank weapons and artillery shells to Hamas and Hezbollah in the past, there is a possibility that they may sell weapons to armed groups and third world countries. It is reported that Kim Jong-un confirmed the surprise attack of Hamas and reconfirmed the usefulness of the long-range artillery and the importance of the preemptive surprise attack. It is predicted that the tendency to stick to military adventurism may increase.”

In addition, the National Intelligence Service said, “We plan to enhance our human intelligence capabilities by learning from the failure of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.”

In addition, the National Intelligence Service evaluated that “the attempt of international hacking organizations to cyber attack in Korea has increased by more than 32% from an average of 1.18 million cases per day last year to 1.56 million cases this year, and damage in the private sector such as IT and finance is rapidly increasing. China and North Korea account for 80% of the behind-the-scenes hacking attacks targeting South Korea, the ‘greatest threat of hacking attacks.'”

The National Intelligence Service reported, “We have confirmed that North Korea hacked domestic advanced weapon manufacturers and shipbuilding companies and took security measures. We also preemptively blocked the trend of imitating famous domestic portal site’s e-commerce companies.”

In addition, “It is estimated that North Korea has stolen $920 million through hacking around the world from last year to this year. In cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States, we froze the virtual assets stolen by North Korea for the first time on two occasions in February and June of this year.”

The National Intelligence Service reported, “In the case of China, it is understood that they are trying to attack the IT supply network by hacking the manufacturer of IT security products used by our government. We have prevented damage by providing information to large domestic companies targeted by China’s ransomware attack simulation, and we are pushing for blocking and closure after detecting China’s operation of a web disguised as a domestic press company.”

Regarding the trend of China, the National Intelligence Service said, “We have obtained intelligence that North Korea has urgently sent a working-level delegation to China in mid-October to search for investors, preparing to expand economic cooperation with China with the prospect of full-scale border opening. However, China is also showing a dual attitude, such as strengthening smuggling control and preparing for additional repatriation of North Korean defectors.”

The National Intelligence Service reported, “China is sticking to the principle of first returning all North Korean workers and is paying attention to international relations by strengthening customs inspections and smuggling control for goods exported to North Korea. Nevertheless, it also shows a gesture of taking care of North Korea by preparing for additional repatriation following the repatriation of hundreds of North Korean defectors who were imprisoned in China on the 9th of last month. It was also mentioned that China may have the possibility of additional repatriation.”

During the state audit of the National Intelligence Service by the ruling and opposition parties on this day, there was also a dispute over some of the inspection tool files left in the internal system during the security inspection of the Central Election Commission.

The Democratic Party has raised suspicions that files suspected of being hacking programs were found on the internal server of the Election Commission after the National Intelligence Service conducted security consulting for the Election Commission. On this day, Yoon Geon-young, a member of the Democratic Party’s Intelligence Committee, raised doubts about the background of the National Intelligence Service not properly deleting the inspection tool, which he defined as a ‘hacking tool.’

In response, the opposition party proposed to confirm the situation through a verification committee composed of external experts to end the controversy. The National Intelligence Service and the ruling party agreed, and the ruling and opposition parties decided to prepare for the confirmation work through consultation with Park Deok-heum, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee.

About this, the National Intelligence Service stated in a position paper after the state audit, “The inspection tool used by the National Intelligence Service is a common tool used by information protection companies or white hackers to check for system network security vulnerabilities, which is different from malicious hacking tools.”

The National Intelligence Service explained, “On the other hand, hacking tools include professional functions such as bypassing vaccine detection, keylogging (such as intercepting passwords entered by keyboard), data theft through screen capture, system destruction, and covert communication with hacking passageways.”