North Korea sent me abroad to be a secret IT worker. My wages funded the regime

Jin-su, whose real name is kept secret for his safety, was once part of a hidden network of North Korean IT workers sent abroad to earn money for their government. He told the BBC that he used hundreds of fake identities to apply for remote IT jobs with companies in the US and Europe. This was all part of a large operation run by North Korea to get around international sanctions and bring in much-needed cash. Jin-su said that he and his colleagues would often work in teams, sometimes with as many as ten people, and that most of the money they earned—about 85 percent—was sent back to North Korea. Even though they knew it was unfair, Jin-su said it was still better than living in North Korea, where life is much harder.

The United Nations estimates that North Korea’s secret IT workers bring in between 250 million and 600 million dollars every year. The number of these workers increased during the pandemic, as remote work became more common and companies were less likely to meet their employees in person. Most of these workers are just trying to earn a living, but some have been involved in more serious crimes, like stealing data or demanding ransom from their employers. There have even been cases where North Korean IT workers were caught using fake identities to get jobs at cryptocurrency companies in the US.

Jin-su explained that getting these jobs was a complicated process. He would first pretend to be Chinese and contact people in countries like Hungary and Turkey, asking to use their identities in exchange for a share of his earnings. Then, he would use those borrowed identities to approach people in Western Europe, hoping to get their information to apply for jobs in the US and Europe. He found that people in the UK were especially easy to convince. Many companies did not realize they were hiring North Korean workers because the workers used fake names and did not have to show their faces in interviews. Some companies started to notice something was wrong when they saw many job applicants with similar backgrounds or when video calls did not match the time of day in the US.

Life as a North Korean IT worker abroad was not easy. Jin-su said he was not allowed to go outside and had to stay indoors most of the time. However, being abroad also gave him a chance to see what life was like outside North Korea. He realized that things were very different in other countries and that the North Korean government was not telling the truth about the outside world. Even though he only got to keep a small part of his earnings, it was still a lot of money compared to what he could make in North Korea.

Eventually, Jin-su decided to defect and not return to North Korea. He said this was a very risky decision because if he was caught, he could be punished, and his family could also face consequences. Now, he works in IT in another country. He earns less money than before, but he gets to keep all of it. He says he is happier now because he can work honestly and keep what he earns. Jin-su hopes that by sharing his story, people will understand the difficult situation faced by North Korean IT workers and the risks they take to escape.