‘Thousands of IT workers posing as non-North Koreans to get jobs’ ; Thanks to Kim Jong Un’s regime

North Korea is sending hundreds of competent IT employees throughout the world to appear as other nationalities and seek employment, mostly to raise finances for its nuclear weapons program, according to US authorities on Monday. Many of them work in China and Russia, with a small number in Africa and Southeast Asia, but they may now be looking for work in North America, Europe, East Asia, and other parts of the world, according to an advisory issued by the US State, Treasury, and FBI.

As per the agencies, these job searchers might pose as Chinese, Japanese, South Korean, Eastern European, or US-based teleworkers and look for freelance employment in affluent countries. ‘These IT employees take advantage of current demand for certain IT talents, such as software and mobile application development, to get freelance job contracts from customers all around the world,’ according to the report.

Some of the other employees needed might be in mobile gaming, visual animation, dating applications, and the development of cryptocurrency systems. According to US state agencies, the majority of the money earned by the laborers goes directly to the North Korean government, with a large portion of the earnings going toward the country’s weapons development activities. ‘ The North Korean government withholds up to 90% of abroad workers’ earnings, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue for the government,’ the advisory stated.

According to the report, some of these laborers are subjected to human trafficking, forced labor, and excessive work hours while being closely monitored by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s administration. Many of these IT professionals also utilize virtual private networks (VPNs) to conceal their identities while communicating with employers, work remotely, and prefer text messaging over video conversations. It was also said that they frequently counterfeit identification papers such as driver’s licenses and passports.

The US authorities noted various red signals that employers should be aware of, such as when a job candidate requests that their income be paid in virtual currency, refuses to engage in video chats, or claims that work goods such as a laptop cannot be delivered to the location they provided. ‘ The FBI encourages US enterprises to report suspicious activity, including any suspected [North Korean] IT worker activities, to local field offices,’ according to the statement.