North Korea’s hacker army, operating under the regime’s spy agency, has become one of the world’s most dangerous digital threats—funding nuclear ambitions with stolen crypto and state-backed cybercrime. NurPhoto via Getty Images

How does a country become a hacking superpower when it’s barely connected to the internet? It’s easy when you’re North Korea.

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The average North Korean can’t access the internet; most online activity is conducted via the repressive regime’s nationwide intranet, termed Kwangmyong, which is monitored by the secret police. The relatively few North Koreans who are permitted access to the open internet, which requires special authorization, are even more tightly watched by the regime. Such restrictions haven’t stopped Pyongyang from becoming a full-fledged cybercriminal regime. All over the world, adept North Korean hackers are leading efforts to crack into sensitive IT systems, ranging from banks to governments to businesses of every kind.

This comes as no surprise, since North Korea has financed itself with international criminal proceeds for decades. For want of much of any legitimate economy, outside arms sales (these have become important to Russia’s war against Ukraine recently), the Democratic People’s........

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