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Biden to Highlight US Chip Production — in South Korea

US President Joe Biden meets with small business owners to discuss the small businesses boom, at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 28, 2022. (AFP)
US President Joe Biden meets with small business owners to discuss the small businesses boom, at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 28, 2022. (AFP)
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Biden to Highlight US Chip Production — in South Korea

US President Joe Biden meets with small business owners to discuss the small businesses boom, at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 28, 2022. (AFP)
US President Joe Biden meets with small business owners to discuss the small businesses boom, at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 28, 2022. (AFP)

President Joe Biden will open his trip to Asia with a focus on the US tech sector, touring a Samsung computer chip plant on Friday that will serve as model for a $17 billion semiconductor factory that the Korean electronics company is building outside Austin, Texas.

The visit is also a nod to one of Biden's key domestic priorities of increasing the supply of computer chips. A semiconductor shortage last year hurt the availability of autos, kitchen appliances and other goods. This supply crunch caused higher inflation that has crippled Biden's public approval and caused his administration to focus on increasing domestic manufacturing.

Biden will grapple with a multitude of foreign policy issues during his six-day visit to South Korea and Japan, but he also crafted an itinerary clearly meant to tend to the concerns of his home audience as well.

Previewing the trip aboard Air Force One, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Samsung's investment in Texas will mean “good-paying jobs for Americans and, very importantly, it will mean more supply chain resilience.”

Greeting Biden at the plant in South Korea will be the country's new president, Yoon Suk Yeol, and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong. Yoon is a political newcomer who became president, his first elected office, slightly more than a week ago. He campaigned on taking a tougher stance against North Korea and strengthening the 70-year alliance with the US.

Part of the computer chip shortage is the result of strong demand as much of the world emerged from the coronavirus pandemic. But coronavirus outbreaks and other challenges also caused the closure of semiconductor plants. US government officials have estimated that chip production will not be at the levels they would like until early 2023.

Global computer chip sales totaled $151.7 billion during the first three months of this year, a 23% jump from the same period in 2021, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

More than 75% of global chip production comes from Asia. That's a possible vulnerability the US hopes to protect against through more domestic production and government investment in the sector through a bill being negotiated in Congress.

The risk of Chinese aggression against Taiwan could possibly cut off the flow of high-end computer chips that are needed in the US for military gear as well as consumer goods. Similarly, the hermetic North Korea has been test-firing ballistic missiles amid a coronavirus outbreak, a possible risk to South Korea's manufacturing sector should the brinksmanship escalate.

In terms of chip production, China leads the global pack with a 24% share, followed by Taiwan (21%), South Korea (19%) and Japan (13%). Only 10% of chips are made in the US, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

Samsung announced the Texas-based plant in November of last year. It hopes to begin operations in the second half of 2024. The South Korean electronics giant chose the site based on a number of factors, including government incentives and the “readiness and stability” of local infrastructure.

In addition to Samsung, Biden has also been highlighting in his recent speeches an announcement by the US firm Intel to build a semiconductor plant near Columbus, Ohio.

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North Korean Charged in Cyberattacks on US Hospitals, NASA and Military Bases

A man who allegedly carried out cybercrimes for a North Korean military intelligence agency has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack hospitals and health care providers in several US states. - The AP
A man who allegedly carried out cybercrimes for a North Korean military intelligence agency has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack hospitals and health care providers in several US states. - The AP
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North Korean Charged in Cyberattacks on US Hospitals, NASA and Military Bases

A man who allegedly carried out cybercrimes for a North Korean military intelligence agency has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack hospitals and health care providers in several US states. - The AP
A man who allegedly carried out cybercrimes for a North Korean military intelligence agency has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack hospitals and health care providers in several US states. - The AP

A North Korean military intelligence operative has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack into American health care providers, NASA, US military bases and international entities, stealing sensitive information and installing ransomware to fund more attacks, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

The indictment of Rim Jong Hyok by a grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, accuses him of laundering the money through a Chinese bank and then using it to buy computer servers and fund more cyberattacks on defense, technology and government entities around the world.

The hacks on American hospitals and other health care providers disrupted the treatment of patients, officials said. He's accused of targeting 17 entities across 11 US states, including NASA and US military bases, as well as defense and energy companies in China, Taiwan and South Korea, according to The AP.

For more than three months, Rim and other members of the Andariel Unit of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau had access to NASA’s computer system, extracting over 17 gigabytes of unclassified data, the indictment says. They also reached inside computer systems for defense companies in Michigan and California, as well as Randolph Air Force base in Texas and Robins Air Force base in Georgia, authorities say.

The malware enabled the state-sponsored Andariel group to send stolen information to North Korean military intelligence, furthering the country’s military and nuclear aspirations, federal prosecutors said. They've gone after details of fighter aircraft, missile defense systems, satellite communications and radar systems, a senior FBI official said.

“While North Korea uses these types of cyber crimes to circumvent international sanctions and fund its political and military ambitions, the impact of these wanton acts have a direct impact on the citizens of Kansas,” said Stephen A. Cyrus, an FBI agent based in Kansas City.

Online court records do not list an attorney for Rim, who has lived in North Korea and worked at the military intelligence agency’s offices in both Pyongyang and Sinuiju, according to court records. A reward of up to $10 million has been offered for information that could lead to him or other foreign government operatives who target critical US infrastructure.

The Justice Department has prosecuted multiple cases related to North Korean hacking, often alleging a profit-driven motive that sets the nation's cybercriminals apart from hackers in Russia and China. In 2021, for instance, the department charged three North Korean computer programmers in a broad range of hacks including a destructive attack targeting an American movie studio and the attempted theft and extortion of more than $1.3 billion from banks and companies around the world.

In this case, the FBI was alerted by a Kansas medical center that was hit in May 2021. Hackers had encrypted its files and servers, blocking access to patient files, laboratory test results and computers needed to operate hospital equipment. A Colorado health care provider was affected by the same Maui ransomware variant.

A ransom note sent to the Kansas hospital demanded Bitcoin payments valued then at about $100,000, to be sent to a cryptocurrency address.

“Otherwise all of your files will be posted in the Internet which may lead you to loss of reputation and cause the troubles for your business,” the note reads. “Please do not waste your time! You have 48 hours only! After that the Main server will double your price.”

Federal investigators said they traced blockchains to follow the money: An unnamed co-conspirator transferred the Bitcoin to a virtual currency address belonging to two Hong Kong residents before it was converted into Chinese currency and transferred to a Chinese bank. The money was then accessed from an ATM in China next to the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge connecting China and North Korea, according to court records.

In 2022, the Justice Department said the FBI seized approximately $500,000 in ransom payments from the money laundering accounts, including the entire ransom payment from the hospital.

An arrest of Rim is unlikely, so the biggest outcome of the indictment is that it may lead to sanctions that could cripple the ability of North Korea to collect ransoms this way, which could in turn remove the motivation to conduct cyber attacks on entities like hospitals in the future, according to Allan Liska, an analyst with the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

“Now, unfortunately, that will force them to do more cryptocurrency theft. So it’s not going to stop their activity. But the hope is that we won’t have hospitals disrupted by ransomware attacks because they’ll know that they can’t get paid,” Liska said.

He also noted that a Chinese entity was among the victims and questioned what the country, which is an ally of North Korea, thinks of being targeted.

“China can’t be too thrilled about that,” he said.