1. The 2nd ROK-U.S.-Japan Trilateral Diplomatic Working Group Meeting on the DPRK Cyber Threats was held in Washington, D.C., the U.S., on March 29. The group was launched in December 2023 to implement one of the key deliverables of the Camp David Summit to reinforce trilateral collaboration on disrupting North Korean cyber threats. The meeting was headed by Mr. LEE Jun-il, Director-General for North Korean Nuclear Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Mr. Lyn Debevoise, Deputy Special Representative for the DRPK, U.S. Department of State, and Mr. KUMAGAI Naoki, Ambassador in charge of Cyber Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.

2. The three sides shared their assessments of recent trends of North Korea’s malicious cyber activities and IT workers’ operations, and explored effective ways to counter the illicit activities through trilateral cooperation. The three sides shared concerns on a growing trend that North Korean IT workers who use fraudulent IDs not only win contracts from global IT companies and generate revenue to support the North Korean regime’s unlawful WMD and missile programs, but also increase their engagement in malicious cyber activities such as hacking. The three sides examined a wide range of measures to enhance coordination in response to the North Korean cyber threats, including strengthening cooperation with the private sector, bolstering diplomatic engagement with the countries where North Korean IT workers operate, and building up cyber security capacity of the international community.

3. The three sides agreed to implement the action items agreed upon during this working group meeting and continue their discussions by holding the 3rd Working Group Meeting at an appropriate time.

4. During his visit to the United States, Director-General Lee met with numerous U.S. officials and representatives from academia to discuss a wide range of issues including the current situation of North Korea, relations between Russia and North Korea, relations between China and North Korea, and measures to disrupt North Korea’s illicit revenue generation.