South Korean police have confirmed that hackers tied to North Korea's military intelligence agency orchestrated a 2019 Ethereum heist valued at 58 billion won ($41.5 million).

The hackers, linked to North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau, specifically the Lazarus and Andariel groups, infiltrated a cryptocurrency exchange to steal 342,000 Ethereum tokens.

These assets, now valued at approximately 1.4 trillion won ($1 billion), were partially laundered through three crypto exchanges established by the hackers themselves and through 51 additional exchanges.

The identity of the targeted exchange was not disclosed, but South Korean media connected it to the Upbit platform.

The investigation, supported by the U.S. FBI, marks the first instance of North Korea's confirmed involvement in a cyberattack on a South Korean crypto exchange.

Investigators managed to trace and recover some of the stolen digital assets, including 4.8 Bitcoin retrieved from a Swiss exchange.

Despite these findings, North Korea denies any involvement in such cyber activities.