So much drilling and North Korea's stolen crypto funding nuclear weapons

 The last two weeks has seen an extraordinary ramping up of "drills" in the South China Sea area:

1. Japanese naval units carried out antisubmarine warfare drills in the South China Sea on Monday while the U.S and Philippine navies conducted a joint sail in the South China Sea the same day. 
   
   
2. Meanwhile, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Royal Thai Navy (RTN) commenced the joint naval and marine forces drill Blue Strike 2023 on Sunday, which takes place around the Gulf of Thailand and Eastern Thailand.  Blue Strike 2023 opened on Sunday at Sattahip Naval Base in Thailand, “During the joint training, the Marine Corps from both sides will conduct training exercises including urban warfare, light weapons shooting, sniping tactics, armored tactics, chemical defense, battlefield first aid, wilderness survival, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief,” stated a Chinese Ministry of National Defense release on Monday. The drills will conclude on Sept. 10 with activity centered around the Gulf of Thailand and the Royal Thai Marines camp and training areas in Sattahip district.
   
   
3. The above two "drills" followed a series of bilateral and multilateral military drills and engagement by Australia, Japan and the United States over the past two weeks, as the three countries seek to deter China from aggressive actions toward the Philippines, particularly in regard to Philippine resupply missions to the grounded LST BRP Sierra Madre (LS-57) at Second Thomas Shoal—part of the disputed Spratly Islands.
   
   
4. Australia carried out the bilateral amphibious Exercise Alon 2023 drill in late August with the Philippines, deploying amphibious assault ship HMAS Canberra (L02) and frigate HMAS Anzac (FFH-150) with MV-22B Ospreys from Marine Rotational Force-Darwin to support the exercise. Following the exercise, Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles stated that joint patrols between Australia and the Philippines in the South China Sea will occur soon.
   
   
5. Exercise Bushido Guardian, a two-week exercise involving 75 Squadron at Komatsu Air Base, began on September 4 and was the first time the RAAF F-35A Lightning IIs have travelled to Japan as part of the biennial exercise.

In an unrelated report, CNN says that North Korean hackers have allegedly stolen hundreds of millions in crypto to fund nuclear programs.  From January to Aug. 18, North Korea-affiliated hackers stole $200 million worth of crypto — accounting for over 20% of all stolen crypto this year, according to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. 

Over the past five years, North Korean hackers have stolen over USD 2 billion in cryptocurrencies in over 30 attacks, according to TRM Labs.  

This has coincided with an apparent acceleration in the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” said TRM Labs in a June discussion with North Korea experts. Separately, blockchain analytics company Chainalysis said in a February report that “most experts agree the North Korean government is using these stolen assets to fund its nuclear weapons programs.” Just last month, the FBI warned crypto companies that North Korea-linked hackers are planning to “cash out” $40 million of crypto. The agency also said in January it continues “to identify and disrupt North Korea’s theft and laundering of virtual currency, which is used to support North Korea’s ballistic missile and Weapons of Mass Destruction programs.”