EU sanctions on Russian, Chinese 'cyber attackers'

Yahoo – AFP, Dave CLARK, July 30, 2020

The EU member states said measures would be taken against six individuals
and three entities from China and Russia involved in various actions, including
the attempt to hack into the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW) (AFP Photo/Philip Pacheco)

Brussels (AFP) - The European Union imposed its first ever sanctions against alleged cyber attackers on Thursday, targeting Russian and Chinese individuals and a specialist unit of Moscow's GRU military intelligence agency.

An export firm based in North Korea and technology company from Tiajin, China, were also listed.

The member states said measures would be taken against six individuals and three entities involved in various actions, including the attempt to hack into the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

They also included suspects said to be involved in the major cyber assaults known by the nicknames "WannaCry", "NotPetya" and "Operation Could Hopper".

The individuals will be banned from travel to the European Union and all the targets will be subject to an asset freeze for any funds in areas under EU jurisdiction.

In addition, the European Council of member states said: "EU persons and entities are forbidden from making funds available to those listed."

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell (pictured July 17, 2020) said the action had 

been taken "to better prevent, discourage, deter and respond to such malicious 

behaviour in cyberspace" (AFP Photo/JOHN THYS)

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the action had been taken "to better prevent, discourage, deter and respond to such malicious behaviour in cyberspace".

These attacks, he said, represented "an external threat to the European Union or its member states" or had "a significant effect against third States or international organisations".

The best known of the targeted entities is the Main Centre for Special Technologies, a unit of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation -- better known as the GRU.

This unit, based on Kirova Street in Moscow, is said to have carried out attacks known as NotPetya and EternalPetya in June 2017, hitting EU private companies with ransomware and blocking data.

The sanctions list also accuses GRU agents of carrying out an attack on the Ukrainian power grid in the winters of 2015 and 2016, resulting in parts of it being shut down.

Four alleged Russian GRU agents -- two "human intelligence support" officers and two "cyber operators" -- are also named, for their roles in the April 2018 attempt to penetrate the OPCW agency in The Hague.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell (pictured July 17, 2020) said the action had 

been taken "to better prevent, discourage, deter and respond to such malicious 

behaviour in cyberspace" (AFP Photo/JOHN THYS)

The watchdog was investigating reports that Russian-backed Syrian forces carried out chemical attacks when alleged GRU agents were intercepted trying to penetrate the agency's wifi from a hire car parked near its headquarters.

"With these sanctions, the EU is taking a big step towards safer cyber space. The price for bad behaviour is being increased, because the bad guys still get away with it too often," said Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok.

"Now the EU shows that it can take effective action against these and other malicious parties," he said.

The other two entities targeted were Tianjin Huaying Haitai Science and Technology Development Company Ltd, said to be the actor known to cyber war observers as "Advanced Persistent Threat 10" or APT10.

Haitai is said to have been the source of "Operation Cloud Hopper", which the European Council said "targeted information systems of multinational companies in six continents ... and gained unauthorised access to commercially sensitive data, resulting in significant economic loss".

Another target was Chosun Expo, an export company from North Korea which, under the "WannaCry" banner, is said to have helped hack the Polish Financial Supervision Authority and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

It is alleged to have carried out cyber-theft from the Bangladesh Bank and attempted cyber-theft from the Vietnam Tien Phong Bank.

Germany to strengthen sanctions against North Korea

Germany plans to tighten sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear program in line with UN resolutions and EU laws. The North Korean embassy in Berlin will be banned from renting out its property to earn hard currency.

Deutsche Welle, 9 May 2017

In the center of Berlin, between the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie, North Korea is conducting business that helps fund Kim Jong Un's brutal regime and nuclear program.

During the Cold War, North Korea had a sprawling diplomatic compound in East Germany represented by some 100 diplomats. Today, the isolated regime occupies the same property but only has about 10 diplomats.

For nearly a decade North Korea has leased part of its unused property to City Hostel, a low budget travel option where dorm rooms go for as little as 17 euros ($18) a night.  Another building on the property is leased out as an event hall.

North Korea earns tens of thousands of euros in hard currency from the rentals every month. It is only part of the pariah state's use of diplomatic posts around the world to get around sanctions, run businesses and conduct clandestine, often illicit, activities to earn much needed hard currency.

City Hostel leases property from the North Korean embassy in Berlin

The money, according to experts, is used to buy restricted technology, luxury goods and finance diplomatic missions.

Germany now plans to ban North Korea from leasing the embassy property, Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and broadcasters NDR and WDR reported.

"We must increase pressure to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table," said Foreign Ministry State Secretary Markus Ederer. "This means above all that we must consistently apply sanctions that the United Nations and European Union imposed."

"In that regard, it is particularly important that we do even more to dry up the financial resources used to fund the nuclear program," he said. "The German government is in complete agreement and the responsible authorities will now take the necessary steps."

According to UN Security Council Resolution 2321 passed in November in response to Pyongyang's fifth nuclear test, countries shall prohibit North Korea "from using real property that it owns or leases in their territory for any purpose other than diplomatic or consular activities."

Relations between North Korea and the rest of the international community have grown tense in recent months as Pyongyang conducts ballistic missile tests and threatens Japan, South Korea and the United States with a nuclear attack.

The United States has said all options including military force are on the table to stop North Korea's nuclear program. It has also upped pressure on countries, especially China, to enforce UN resolutions and cut financial sources for the regime in North Korea.

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"Quantum Patterns" - Jan 23 - 24, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

"... The Darkness Can't See Beyond Itself

I want to give you proof yet again of something unusual and very telling of the way low vibration works. Within the first channel of the year [2016], I spoke about the young North Korean leader. I'm going to do it again. I'm going to do it again as a profound example of how low consciousness cannot see above itself. That means that it can only work with what it sees and knows. As powerful, as smart, as intellectual as it thinks it is, it can't get out of its own circle.

The former leader of North Korea was a classic egotist. When he died, his son took over and could do anything he wanted. This boy had watched his father for decades and knew he would take over someday. Naturally, he inherited the attributes his father taught him of self-importance, and he also became egotistically driven to the max. When he took power, he had the choice to make changes that would allow him to be even greater than his father. He wanted something that would elevate his name and his position to the highest egotistic place imaginable. His father was the model, and now he could do anything he wanted to be even more famous. What happened is classic. He completely missed the greatest opportunity that any man has had to become the most famous and beloved person on the earth. The idea never occurred to him. Even though he had been educated in the western world, he missed it.

If he had considered the high road and included the earth instead of a restricted population of his own country, he could have been the most famous and beloved leader on Earth, all of his life. At the moment he took over, all he had to do was to think beyond his circle. He was in the unique position to be a "wild card" and do something amazing - unify North an South Korea, drop the zone of death that was between those countries, bring families together after generations, stop nuclear programs that he really never needed other than to look important and, thereby, give his people abundance, food for all and peace in his region. All of Korea would worship him and the earth would give a sigh of relief in thanks for his wisdom and courage.

He would have received standing ovations upon entering the United Nations great room and they would bow before him and give him the highest peace prizes. He would have his ego stroked and stroked and stroked and stroked and be far greater than his father had ever been. But it never occurred to him. Instead, he perpetuated the dark box he inherited, and now he presides over the lowest energy possible, representing the most dangerous renegade energy on the planet. At the expense of keeping his people poor and impoverished and creating instability in his region, he gets to be a powerful and famous person for a moment in time from a small population. He will not last long. He can't see that what he is doing has no support within the majority of the planet's population, and he will lose everything. Isn't it interesting how strong the circle is that keeps a low vibration low. All of this is beginning to change, dear ones. If you examine individual people and the way they act, you're going to see this coming. You're going to recognize it.  ..."

THE OLD SOUL 2013 TOOLKIT" – Jan 13, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)  (Text version)

"... The Change in the Way Things Work

Now I'm going to be very cautious with number five, and I'm going to change a paradigm of the way we channel. For 23 years, we have given you information in the soup of potentials that we read around you as the highest probable potential that exists. These things eventually become your reality because they are your free choice, and we know what you're thinking. We know what the potentials are because we know what the biases are, and we see all of humanity as a whole. Potentials are energy, and it gives us the ability to project your future based on how you are working these potentials. We have done this for a long time. Twenty-three years ago, we told you about many things that were potentially going to happen, and now they are your reality.

But now I'm going to depart from that scenario and I'm going to give you a potential on Earth that is not the strongest. I am going to tell you about a Human Being who has a choice. This potential is only about 50 percent. But I'm going to "read a potential" to you that you didn't expect. It's about a paradigm that is starting to shift.

Let's talk about North Korea. There's a young, new leader there. The potential is that he will never, ever hear this channel, so I can talk freely about him. He is facing a dilemma, for he is young and he knows about the differences in the energy in his land. He feels it. The lineage of his departed father lies upon him and all that is around him expects him to be a clone of this lineage. He is expected to continue the things that he has been taught and make North Korea great.

But he's starting to rethink them. Indeed, he wants to be a great leader, and to be heard and seen, and to make his mark on North Korea's history. His father showed him that this was very important. So he ponders a question: What makes a world leader great?

Let's ask that question to someone in an older earth paradigm from not that long ago. He will be an expert and a successful one. So this is a valid exercise, asking someone from the past who knows. We will ask that question to a man who you know and whose name is Napoleon. For us, this was yesterday and some of you were there. 

If you asked Napoleon, "What makes a world leader great?", he will say, "the size of the army, how much area can be efficiently conquered with a given amount of resources and men, how important the leader appears will then be based upon how many citizens call him emperor or king, the taxes he can impose, and how many fear him." Not only was that Napoleon's reality, but he was right for the energy he was part of at the time. So Napoleon went back and forth between world leader, general and prisoner. He accomplished almost everything he set out to do. His expertise was obvious, and you remember his name to this day. He was famous.

What makes a world leader great? What I am showing you is the difference in thinking between then and now. There are some choices that this evolving young Human Being has that could change everything on the planet if he wanted. His father would tell this boy that what makes a world leader great is the potential of his missile power, or how close he can get to having a nuclear weapon, or how he stands up against the power of the West, or how he continues to aggravate and stir drama as a small country - getting noticed and being feared. His father would tell him that this is his lineage and that is what he's been told all his life. His father did it well and surrounded himself with advisors who he then passed on to his son.

Now, there's a 50 percent chance of something happening here, but this is not a strong potential, dear ones. I'm bringing this forward so you can watch it work one way or the other. For if the son continues in his father's footsteps, he is doomed to failure. The energy on the earth will see it as old and he will be seen as a fool. If, however, he figures it out, he could be the most famous man on the planet... which is really what his father wanted.

If Kryon were to advise this man, here's what I would tell him. He could be the greatest known leader the current world has ever known, for what he does now will be something the world will see as a demarcation point from the old ways. Not only that, but what he does now will be in the history books forever, and because of his youth, he has the potential to outlive every other leader on the planet! So he's going to have longer fame than anyone ever has.

I would tell him this: Tell the border guards to go home. Greet the south and begin to unify North and South Korea in a way that no past prophet ever said could happen. Allow the two countries to be separate, but have them as two parts of a larger Korean family with free trade and travel. Start alliances with the West and show them that you mean it. Drop the missile programs because you will never need them!

This will bring abundance to the North Korean people that they never expected! They will have great economic sustenance, schools, hospitals and more respect than ever for their amazing leader. The result would be fame and glory for the son, which the father had never achieved, something that the world would talk about for hundreds of years. It would cause a United Nations to stand and applaud as the son walked into the Grand Assembly. I would ask him, "Wouldn't you like that?"

Doesn't this seem obvious to most of you? He could achieve instant fame and be seen as the one who made the difference and started something amazing. But watch him. He has a choice, but it's not simple. He still has his father's advisors, but one of which he's already dismissed. He may get it, or he may not. There is a 50 percent chance. But I'll tell you that if he doesn't do it, the one after him will. Because it is so obvious. 

We show you this to tell you that this is the evolvement of the Human species. It is the slow realization that putting things together is the answer to all things, instead of separating them or conquering them. Those who start promoting compromise and begin to create these energies that never were here before will be the ones you're going to remember. Dear ones, it's going to happen in leadership and politics and in business. It's a new paradigm...."

EU slaps North Korea with new sanctions

Europe has decided to follow the lead of the UN, which recently hit Pyongyang with its toughest restrictions yet. The reclusive nation refuses to adhere to a Security Council ban on its missile program.

Deutsche Welle, 27 May 2016

The European Union adopted new restrictions against North Korea on Friday. The move came in protest to missile tests carried out by Pyongyang that flouted UN resolutions forbidding development of the country's nuclear program.

The new sanctions include a ban on importing any petroleum or luxury products from North Korea and prohibit selling anything to the regime that could be used for military purposes. Additionally, no aircraft or ships coming from North Korea are allowed to enter, use or fly over EU territory.

A further tightening of restrictions on investments in North Korea and a ban on money transfers were also part of the new raft of sanctions.

"The EU decided to further expand its restrictive measures targeting the DPRK's nuclear, weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs," said an EU statement, referring to the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The 28-member bloc was following the UN's lead. The UN Security Council imposed its toughest sanctions yet on Pyongyang in March. The UN move was also a response to continued nuclear and ballistic missile testing.

Diplomatic relations between Europe and North Korea were nominally established in 2001 but remain minimal. The bloc first imposed sanctions against the isolated country in 2006.

Earlier on Friday, Pyongyang startled the international community when it threatened to retaliate after South Korea fired what it said were warning shots on two vessels from the North. Seoul said that a patrol vote and fishing boat had crossed the disputed maritime border between the two countries.

es/sms (AFP, AP, Reuters)

DPRK rejected for AIIB membership as ties with China sour

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-04-09

Kim Jong-un inspects an aircraft factory in Pyongyang on April 1.
(File photo/Xinhua)

Beijing has rejected North Korea's application to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with the traditionally close relationship between the two countries at a nadir after the Kim Jong-un regime ignored Beijing's requests and proceeded with missile launches and a nuclear test, reports the Hong Kong-based Ming Pao.

Pyongyang is understood to have expressed its interest in joining the new financial institution as early as February. However, Beijing turned North Korea down on the grounds that its financial industry is underdeveloped and the country does not provide detailed information on its economy and financial market.

The Chinese government cannot accept Pyongyang's application since it would confirm that the doubts of the United States and Japan about the AIIB meeting international standards of transparency are reasonable, the paper said. North Korea must abide by international norms and laws — such as providing details of its economy — if it does not want to be further isolated and wants to join international financial bodies, it said.

The Chinese government is also concerned about the reaction from South Korea and European countries that have applied to join the AIIB if it were to accept Pyongyang's application, as their opposition or withdrawal could sabotage the AIIB's establishment.

Relations between North Korea and its old ally China have soured since Kim took over from his late father Kim Jong-il at the end of 2011. Beijing took the rare step of agreeing to UN sanctions against the country after it proceeded with missile and nuclear tests in the face of international opposition.

Kim is seeking to play China off against Russia by pursuing stronger diplomatic and economic ties with the country. Pyongyang's relations with Moscow have warmed since last year with the Russian government writing off longstanding debt and both sides declaring a "year for friendship" for this year.

Kim has also accepted an invitation to attend events marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe to be held in Moscow on May 9. In doing so, Kim will make Russia the first foreign country he has visited since taking power, a clear snub to China, Ming Pao said, though the report expressed doubt as to whether North Korea will derive much economic benefit from the relationship with the Russian economy struggling amid Western sanctions and falling oil prices.

Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, said last month that China cherishes its long-term relationship with North Korea and will ensure relations develop as usual without being affected by a single incident. Ming Pao said Wang was reminding Kim that ties can only be improved by a meeting between the two countries' leaders and that his regime should stop ignoring the views of other countries. Beijing can bring Pyongyang on board the AIIB but North Korea should also fulfill its responsibilities by returning to the six-party nuclear talks, said Ming Pao.

Related Article:

A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“….. China

I am Kryon. I've just given you the potentials. "Ah," you say. "But Kryon, right before you leave, you left out the big one. Nobody talks about China." All right. I'll give you still another prediction. China is very interesting, is it not? Suddenly this very old country finds itself in an odd place. They hold the debt for the United States! Some of you would say, "This is not good. This is not going to work." So let me tell you what this is about. Synchronicity has struck, because now China understands that if they're ever going to get paid, they're going to have to ally themselves closer with Western values and help create abundance. Here is the prediction: China will turn North Korea loose soon. The alliance will dissolve, or become stale. There will be political upheaval in China. Not a coup and not a revolution. Within the inner circles of that which you call Chinese politics, there will be a re-evaluation of goals and monetary policy. Eventually, you will see a break with North Korea, allowing still another dictator to fall and unification to occur with the south. How do you like it so far?. ….”