US says North Korea to send more programmers abroad to fund nuclear arms

Name: Kim Jong-un inspects North Korea’s first military satellite station with daughter
Uploaded: 2023-05-26T02:23:12.000Z
Duration: 1 min 36 s
Description: Kim Jong-un inspects North Korea’s first military satellite station with daughter

US and South Korean officials said Pyongyang is boosting efforts to send thousands of tech workers to countries, including China and Russia, to generate revenue

They added these programmers can assist in enabling cyberattacks and cryptocurrency thefts that helped North Korea earn about US$1.7 billion last year

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Cyberattacks and cryptocurrency thefts helped North Korea earn an estimated US$1.7 billion in 2022. Photo: Shutterstock

Bloomberg

Published: 10:23am, 26 May 2023Updated: 4:00pm, 26 May 2023

North Korea is ramping up efforts to deploy information technology workers overseas as it increasingly relies on cyberattacks and other online crimes to funds its weapons programmes, US and South Korean officials said, anticipating the easing of the isolated country’s strict Covid-19 lockdown.

“This is a growth industry, because as we see the DPRK potentially opening up borders, they could be dispatching additional labourers to all parts of the world to generate revenue,” said Jung Pak, the US deputy special representative for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the country’s formal name. “We think it’s actively getting worse.”

This week, the US Treasury Department sanctioned four entities linked to North Korea’s military and intelligence services, as well as one North Korean based in the Russian city of Vladivostok who received cryptocurrency payments from North Korean tech workers.

Pyongyang, forced to shift tactics in response to sanctions programmes targeting its nuclear weapons efforts, is increasingly relying on thousands of North Korean programmers who were sent abroad, mainly to China and Russia, before the regime shut its borders during Covid-19, according to the US and South Korea.

They say these in-demand workers can make as much as US$300,000 a year, working abroad – often remotely through freelance platforms with falsified or stolen identification – and can assist in enabling cyberattacks and cryptocurrency thefts that helped North Korea earn an estimated US$1.7 billion in 2022.

US efforts to sanction North Korea – including at the United Nations – have done little to halt leader Kim Jong-un’s weapons programme, with the country launching more than 70 ballistic missiles last year.

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Kim Jong-un inspects North Korea’s first military satellite station with daughter

One of the main reasons North Korea can continue these efforts is because China and Russia continue to protect North Korea in the United Nations Security Council, as well as host the bulk of the country’s overseas information technology workers as they seek more revenues, Pak said, adding that Beijing should use its leverage to pressure Pyongyang.