South Korea's National Intelligence Service discovered that many illegal online gambling websites are operated in South Korea by North Korea's secret IT department.
The IT department, called "Qingxing," is the equivalent of "Room 39," a state-run department focused on generating revenue from external sources. The National Intelligence Service claimed that Gyeongsung provided a large number of gaming websites to South Korean criminal groups to help collect illegal foreign exchange. North Korea has admitted for the first time that it is involved in South Korea's domestic computer game industry.
Based in Dandong, China, North Korea's Kyungheung Information Technology Exchange has a 15-member team responsible for developing various types of software, including gambling websites, according to a South Korean National Intelligence Service briefing. The agency is said to operate under the cover of a local clothing company run by a North Korean-Chinese entrepreneur.
Members of Qingxing forged Chinese identity cards and forged IT certificates to circumvent United Nations sanctions that bar North Korean employees from working abroad. The gang reportedly charged 6.5 million won ($5,000) per website and 4 million won ($3,000) per month for maintenance. The money was allegedly sent through Chinese bank accounts or accounts stolen from South Korean online gaming organizations.
Kyung Heung members also allegedly had administrator privileges on these gambling platforms, enabling them to steal personal data and embed malicious code. According to intelligence services, at least 1,100 datasets belonging to South Koreans were already in the databases sold by the group.
Despite knowing that Kyung-Hsing was of North Korean descent, South Korean criminal gangs continued to do business with Kyung-Hsing, attracted by the company's low production prices and fluent Korean.
