North Korea sent me abroad to become a secret IT worker. My wages funded the government

Jin says that in the last few years, he used hundreds of fake IDs to apply for remote IT work with Western companies. It was part of a huge undercover scheme to raise funds for North Korea.

Taking several jobs in the US and Europe, he would make at least $ 5,000 (£ 3,750) a month, he told the BBC in a rare interview. Some colleagues, he said, will earn a lot.

Before he was guilty, Jin -Jin -Jin -whose name has been replaced to protect his identity – one of the thousands is believed to be sent abroad to China and Russia, or Africa and other places, to participate in the shady operations run by secret North Korea.

North Korean IT workers are closely monitored and some have talked to the media, but who have given wide testimony to the BBC, which is like daily life for those working in the scam, and how they work, and how they work, provide an insight on how they work. His first-hand account confirms the estimated in the United Nations and Cyber Security Reports.

He said that out of what he has earned, 85% was sent back to fund the government. Cash-stapled North Korea has been subject to international sanctions over years.

“We know that it is like a robbery, but we just accept it as our fate,” Jin-Su said, “It is much better even when we were in North Korea.”

Secret IT Workers produced $ 250m-$ 600m annually for North Korea, according to the United Nations Security Council report published in March 2024. The scheme jumped into the epidemic, when distant work has become common, and has increased since then, officers and cyber guards have warned.

Most of the workers are after a stable salary to send back to the government, but in some cases, they have stolen data or hacked their employers and demanded ransom.

Last year, An American court convicts 14 North Korean people Who allegedly earned $ 88M by working in disguise over a period of six years and extending American firms.

Four and North Korean, who allegedly used the identity of fraud to secure a remote it work for a cryptocurrency firm in the US, was motivated last month.

Jin was an IT worker for rule in China for many years before blaming. He and his associates will mostly work in teams of 10, he told the BBC.

Access to the Internet is limited in North Korea, but abroad, these IT workers can work more easily. They are not only paying their nationality not only because they can pay more by copying Western people, but due to comprehensive international sanctions, North Korea is mainly in response to its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

The scheme is different from North Korea’s hacking operation which also increases funds for the government. Earlier this year Lazarus Group – A notorious hacking group was understood to work for North Korea, although they have never accepted it – It is believed that $ 1.5BN (£ 1.1BN) is stolen from Cryptocurrency firm Baibit,

Jin-suck spent most of his time in an attempt to secure the identity of fraud, which he could use to apply for jobs. He first posed as sugar, and contacted people in Hungary, Turkey and other countries to ask the BBC to use their identity in exchange for their earning percentage.

“If you put a ‘Asian face’ on that profile, you will never get a job.”

He will then use those borrowed identities to contact people in Western Europe for their identity, which he will use to apply for jobs in the US and Europe. Jin-Jin was often successful in targeting British citizens.

“With a little chat, people in Britain passed so easily on their identity,” he said.

IT workers who speak better English sometimes handle the application process. But jobs on freelancer sites also do not necessarily require an interview of face to face, and often day-to-day conversation is on platforms such as slacks, making you easy to show off someone you are not.

Jin Jin told the BBC that he targeted most of the American markets, “because salary is more among American companies”. He claimed that so many IT workers were getting jobs, often companies used to rent more than one North Korean inadvertently. “This is a lot,” he said.

It is understood that these workers collect their earnings through the facility networks located in West and China. Last week, an American woman was sentenced to jail for more than eight years. North Korean IT works for crimes related to assisting workers and sends them money.

The BBC cannot verify the nuances of the testimony independently, but through it PscoreAn organization that advocates North Korean human rights, we have testified with another IT worker, who has supported the claims of the person.

The BBC also spoke to a separate protector, Hyun-Seaun Lee, who met North Korean people, while he was traveling as a businessman for rule in China. He confirmed that he would have similar experiences.

The BBC spoke to the managers who have walked several work in the cyber security and software development sector, who have seen dozens of candidates who suspect that they are North Korean IT activists during their recruitment processes.

Rob Henley, the co-founder of associate security in the US, recently hired for a series of remote vacancies in his firm, and believes that he interviewed 30 North Korean IT workers in the process. “Initially it was somewhat like a game, as it was trying to find out who was real and who was fake, but it became very annoying very quickly,” he said.

Eventually, he resorted to the candidates on video calls to show that they were day time.

“We were only hiring US candidates for these positions. It should have been at least light out. But I never saw the light of the day.”

Back in March, David Mokzadelo, co-founder of Videok Security Lab, Poland-based in Poland, shared a video of a remote job interview, in which he conducted, where the candidate appeared using Artificial Intelligence software to hide his face. He said that after talking to experts, he believed that the candidate could be a North Korean IT worker.

We contacted the North Korean Embassy in London to make allegations in this story. He did not reply.

North Korea has been sending its workers abroad for decades to earn foreign currency of the state. Up to 100,000 are employed as factory or restaurant workers abroad, mostly in China and Russia.

After several years of living in China, Jin-Su said that “sense of imprisonment” over his oppressive working conditions.

“We were not allowed to go out and had 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 reach Western media when they are abroad, Jin-Su. “You see the real world. When we are abroad, we realize that something is wrong inside North Korea.”

But despite this, Jin-Su claimed that some North Korean IT workers thought of escaping as they had done.

“They only take money and go back home, very few people thought about defections.”

Although they only keep a small proportion that they earn, it is very high in North Korea. The defect is also very risky and difficult. Monitoring in China means that most are caught. Some people who are successful in being defective can never see their families again, and their relatives may face punishment for their departure.

The person who is still working in it is now faulty. He says that the skills working for governance have helped him settle in his new life.

Because he is not doing many things with fake ID, he earns less when working for North Korean rule. But because he can keep his earnings more, overall, he has more money in his pocket.

“I had a habit of earning money by doing illegal things. But now I work hard and earn money entitled by me.”