Security News > 2023 > May > US bans North Korean outsourcer and its feisty freelancers

Their prospects of picking up your work have receded further, after the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control made it illegal to do business with one: Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company, aka Jinyong IT Cooperation Company.

Treasury asserted the outsourcer "Employs delegations of DPRK IT workers that operate in Russia and Laos.".

The department stated that North Korea "Generates significant revenue through the deployment of IT workers who fraudulently obtain employment with companies around the world, including in the technology and virtual currency industries."

Treasury believes North Korea has thousands of such staff on the books - most working in Russia or China and sending their pay packets home to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea so it can build weapons of mass destruction and missiles.

Work on virtual currency projects is a favorite, and DPRK techies then "Use virtual currency exchanges and trading platforms to manage digital payments they receive for contract work as well as to launder these illicitly obtained funds back to the DPRK.".

The firm has been designated an agency, instrumentality, or controlled entity of the Government of North Korea or the Workers' Party of Korea under an executive order [PDF] issued by president Obama in 2015 that bans any dealings with named entities.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/05/24/treasury_bans_more_dprk_techies/