North Korea sent me as a secret IT worker. My wage supported the regime.

Jin-Su has applied for remote IT with Western Company using hundreds of fake IDs over the years. It was part of a broad secret system for raising funds for North Korea.

He said in a rare interview, he said in a rare interview, saying that if he juggles several jobs across the United States and Europe, he will be at least $ 5,000 (£ 3,750) a month. He said some colleagues would make much more money.

Before he failed, he changed his name to protect his identity.

North Korea’s IT workers are closely monitored and spoken about the media, but JIN-su provides a wide range of testimonies of the BBC to provide insights to those who are fraudulent and how they operate. His direct account checks a lot of what is estimated in the UN and Cyber Security Report.

He said 85 percent of what he had sent back to support the regime. North Korea, tied up in cash, has been in international sanctions for many years.

Jin-Su said, “We know that it is like a robber, but we accept it as destiny.”

According to the UN Security Council report, published in March 2024, secret IT workers produced $ 250 million every year.

Most workers are receiving steady salaries to return to the regime, but in some cases they have been stolen or hacked by employers and require ransom.

Last year, the US court prosecuted 14 North Korea, who earned $ 88 million by working in disguise for six years and robbed US companies.

Four North Korea, known to have secured remote IT using fraudulent identity, was accused of guaranteeing the work of a US cryptocurrency company last month.

Jin-Su has been an IT worker of the Chinese regime for several years before the flaw. He and his colleagues told the BBC that most of them would work on ten teams.

The access to the Internet is limited in North Korea, but this IT worker can be operated more easily. They not only need to disguise their nationality because they can receive more money by impersonating Westerners, but also because North Korea can receive more money due to the wide range of international sanctions that North Korea is experiencing in response to nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

The plan is separated from North Korea’s hacking work and raises money for the regime. Although he did not recognize it earlier this year, the notorious hacking group Nazaro group is believed to have stole $ 1.5 billion ($ 1.1 billion) from the cryptocurrency company bybit.

Jin-su has tried to secure a fraudulent identity that can be used to apply for jobs. He first poses in Chinese and contacted people in Hungary, Türkiye and other countries to ask for the ratio of imports and in return.

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

Then you will use the borrowed identity to approach people in Western Europe and use them to apply for jobs in the United States and Europe. Jin-su often found success for British citizens.

“With a little chat, the British people conveyed their identity too easily.”

Employees who speak better English sometimes handle the application process. However, jobs on freelance sites do not necessarily require face -to -face interviews, and they often have everyday interactions on the same platform as Slack, making it easier to pretend not to be.

Jin-Su said to the BBC, “We have made most of the US market because of higher salaries in US companies.” He argued that many IT workers are looking for jobs, and often companies will unconsciously hire more than one North Korea. “Many things happen.”

IT workers understand that they collect imports through the promoter network based in the West and China. Last week, an American woman was sentenced to imprisonment for more than eight years as a crime that helped North Korean IT workers to find jobs and spend money.

The BBC cannot independently check the details of JIN-Su’s testimony, but through the PSCORE, an organization that advocates North Korean human rights, we read the testimony of other IT workers who support JIN-Su’s claim.

The BBC also talked with Hyun Seung -ri, another defect that met North Korea while traveling as a businessman of the Chinese regime. He confirmed that he had a similar experience.

The BBC says he has spoke with several recruitment managers in cyber security and software development sectors and found dozens of candidates suspected of being a North Korean IT worker in the employment process.

Rob Henley, co -founder of ALLY Security in the United States, recently hired a series of remote vacancies in his company, and I think he interviewed up to 30 North Korean IT workers in the process. “At first, it was the same as the game, as it was real and who was fake, but it was quite faster.”

In the end, he asked the candidates for a video call and relied on to show where they were.

“We were only hiring a candidate in the United States about this position. It would have been at least light from the outside. But I did not see sunlight.”

Dawid Moczadło, a co -founder of Vidoc Security Lab, headquartered in Poland in March, shared a remote interview video that looks like a candidate uses artificial intelligence software. He believed that the candidate could be a North Korean IT worker after talking with experts.

We contacted the North Korean Embassy in London and made the claim of this story to them. They did not respond.

North Korea has been dispatching overseas workers for decades to receive state foreign currency. Mainly in China and Russia, up to 100,000 people are hired overseas.

Jin-su said that he lived in China for several years and said he was “confined” about his optical working conditions.

“We couldn’t go out and always had to stay indoors,” he said. “You can’t exercise, you can’t do what you want.”

But North Korean IT workers have more freedom to access western media when they are abroad, Jin said. “You have seen the real world. When we are abroad, we know that something is wrong inside North Korea.”

Nevertheless, Jin-Jin insisted that few people in North Korea thought about escaping as they did.

“They just take the money and go home, and there are few people to think about North Korea.”

Even though they are only worth it, they are worth only in North Korea. Faults are also very dangerous and difficult. China’s surveillance means most of them. A few people who have succeeded in defects can never see their families again, and relatives can face punishment for leaving.

Jean says that the technology that worked for the regime has helped to settle in his new life.

He does not work with fake ID cards, so he gets less seeing when he works in the North Korean regime. But he has more money in his pocket because he can maintain more income.

“I became used to making money by doing illegal things. But now I worked hard and earned money to be qualified.”