**North Koreans Pose as IT Pros to Bankroll Kim’s Nuclear Ambitions**
*By Akash Pandey | October 6, 2025, 11:08 AM*
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**What’s the Story?**
North Korean IT workers are reportedly using their technical skills to fund Kim Jong Un’s nuclear ambitions, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Thousands of North Korean men, trained in information technology, have been stealing identities and faking resumes to secure high-paying remote tech jobs in the United States and other wealthy countries.
Using artificial intelligence (AI), they fabricate work outputs and conceal their faces and true identities, allowing them to operate undetected.
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**Financial Impact**
This elaborate scheme has targeted hundreds of Fortune 500 companies, aerospace manufacturers, and financial institutions—from banks to small cryptocurrency start-ups.
The FBI estimates that the operation has generated between hundreds of millions to $1 billion for the North Korean government over the past five years. This funding is believed to be directly supporting Kim Jong Un’s goal of transforming North Korea into a nuclear-armed power.
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**Widespread Infiltration**
Beyond IT, North Korean operatives have infiltrated other industries by posing as Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) specialists, engineers, and architects. With the help of AI, they create credible blueprints and secure municipal approvals.
The scheme has extended its reach to companies across Europe, Saudi Arabia, and Australia.
In response to these threats, government officials from the United States, Japan, and South Korea met in Tokyo in late August to strengthen international cooperation and defense measures.
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**Risks Involved**
Companies face a dual threat: the danger of foreign government agents infiltrating their internal systems and the legal risk of unintentionally violating sanctions against North Korea. Such violations could compromise the national security interests of the US and its allies.
“This is a code red,” stated Jeanine Pirro, US Attorney for the District of Columbia, at a press conference in July. “Your tech sectors are being infiltrated by North Korea.”
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**Worker Exploitation**
It’s important to recognize that the North Korean men involved in these operations are also victims of a brutal regime. They are separated from their families and sent to offshore locations for remote IT work.
Failure to generate sufficient revenue for the North Korean government can result in severe punishments, including beatings, imprisonment, threats against their loved ones, and other human rights abuses.
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*Stay informed about global cybersecurity threats and their wider implications.*
https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/science/fake-north-korean-tech-workers-helped-fund-kim-s-nuclear-ambitions/story