North Korea sent me abroad to become a secret IT worker. My salary supports the regime

Jin-Su said over the years, he used hundreds of fake IDs to apply for remote IT working with Western companies. It is part of a broad secret plan to raise funds for North Korea.

In a rare interview, he told the BBC that multiple jobs in the United States and Europe would make him at least $5,000 (£3,750) a month. He said some colleagues would make more money.

Before his defection, Jin-Su’s name had been renamed to protect his identity – believed to have been sent to China and one of thousands of people in countries in Russia or Africa and elsewhere to participate in a dark operation carried out by the secret North Korea.

North Korean IT workers are closely monitored and few talk to the media, but Jin-Su provides extensive testimony to the BBC, thus revealing insights into the daily lives of people who are scams and how they operate. His first-hand account confirms most of the estimated content in the United Nations and cybersecurity reports.

He said 85% of the income he earned was sent back to fund the regime. North Korea, which has been cash-strapped in North Korea for many years, has been subject to international sanctions.

“We know it’s like robbery, but we just accept it’s our destiny and it’s still much better than when we were in North Korea,” Kim Soo said.

According to a UN Security Council report released in March 20024, secret IT workers generate between $250 million and $600 million for North Korea each year. The program flourished during the pandemic, when distant work became common and has been rising since then and has been rising since.

Most workers pursue stable salaries to return to the regime, but in some cases they have stolen data or cut off their employers and demand ransom.

last year, US court sues 14 North Koreans He allegedly made $88 million by disguising and extorting American companies over a six-year period.

Last month, four other North Koreans allegedly used fraudulent identities to ensure remote IT works for U.S. cryptocurrency companies.

Jin-su was an IT worker in the Chinese regime before defecting. He told the BBC that he and his colleagues would work primarily in 10 people.

In North Korea, access to the internet is limited, but abroad, these IT workers can operate more easily. They need to hide their nationality, not only because they can get more rewards by pretending to be Westerners, but because of widespread international sanctions, North Korea is ruled primarily in response to its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

The plan is separated from North Korea’s hacking operations, which also raises funds for the regime. Earlier this year People think that stole $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) from cryptocurrency company Bybit.

Jin-Su spent most of his time ensuring fraudulent identity he could use to apply for a job. He told the BBC that he would be the first to be a Chinese and contact people from Hungary, Turkey and other countries, asking them to use their identities in exchange for a percentage of his income.

“If you put an ‘Asian face’ on that profile, you will never be able to find a job.”

He will then use those borrowed identities to approach the identities of those in Western Europe, which he uses to apply for jobs in the United States and Europe. Jin-Su often finds success against British citizens.

“With a little chat, people in Britain have conveyed their identities so easily,” he said.

IT workers speaking better in English sometimes deal with applications. However, working on a freelancer website does not necessarily require face-to-face interviews, and daily interactions are often performed on platforms such as Slack, making it easier to pretend that you are not alone.

Jin-Su told the BBC that he is mainly targeting the U.S. market, “because American companies pay higher salaries.” He claims that so many IT workers are finding jobs and often companies unknowingly hire multiple North Koreans. “This has happened a lot,” he said.

It is understood that IT workers collect revenue through a network of facilitators located in the West and China. Last week, an American woman was sentenced to more than eight years in prison For crimes of assisting North Korean IT workers in finding jobs and sending them money.

BBC cannot independently verify gold-Su’s testimony details, but through PSCOREan organization that advocates North Korea’s human rights, we have read the testimony of another IT worker who violated his claims in support of Jin-Su.

The BBC also spoke with another defector, Hyun-Seung Lee, who met with the North Koreans he worked in while a businessman in the Chinese regime travelled. He confirmed they had similar experiences.

The BBC spoke with several hiring managers from the Cybersecurity and Software Development division, who said they found dozens of candidates they suspected were IT workers in North Korea during the recruitment process.

Rob Henley, co-founder of U.S. Allied Security, recently hired a series of remote job openings at his company and believes he interviewed up to 30 North Korean IT workers in the process. “Initially, it was like a game in some way, like trying to figure out who is real and who is fake, but it quickly became annoying.”

Eventually, he resorts to asking for the candidates for the video call and shows him that it is daytime.

“We just hire candidates from the United States for these positions. It should be light outside at least. But I’ve never seen sunlight.”

Back in March, Dawid Moczadło, co-founder of Vidoc Security Lab in Poland, shared videos of his remote work interview where candidates appear to be using artificial intelligence software to cover up their faces. He said after speaking with experts, he believed that the candidate might be IT workers in North Korea.

We contacted the North Korean Embassy in London and filed charges against them. They did not respond.

North Korea has sent its workers abroad for decades to win state foreign currencies. As many as 100,000 factory or restaurant workers abroad, mainly in China and Russia.

After living in China for a few years, Kim Soo said he built a “sense of incarceration” over his oppressive working conditions.

“We are not allowed to go out and have to stay indoors all the time,” he said. “You can’t exercise, you can’t do what you want.”

However, North Korean IT workers have more freedom to gain access to Western media when they are abroad. “You see the real world. When we are abroad, we realize something is not right inside North Korea.”

But, despite this, Jin-Su claims that few North Korean IT workers think of escaping like him.

“They just take the money home, and few people will consider defecting.”

Although they only retain a small portion of their income, it is worth a lot in North Korea. Defection is also a huge risk and difficulty. China’s surveillance means most arrests. The few who successfully defected may never see their families again, and their relatives may face punishment for their departure.

Jin-Su is still working now. He said his skills in the regime helped him settle his new life.

Because he did not work multiple jobs with a fake ID, he earned less than what he earned when he worked in the North Korean regime. But, since he can keep more income, he has more money in his own pocket.

“I’m used to making money by doing illegal things. But now I work hard and make money.”