By Alexandros Sainidis

The perspective of living a life similar to a digital nomad is fascinating and highly appealing to some individuals. From the employer’s side, there are many perceived benefits from hiring somebody abroad as well – boasting the growth of an international network, multiculturalism and diversity, time-zones and more. But what happens if you are a U.S. company, who has accidentally recruited a North Korean national? 

The U.S. Department of Justice and FBI has announced that thousands of Information Technology (IT) workers contracting with U.S. companies have been sending millions of dollars – remittances – from the wages to their homeland funding the ballistic missile program. Obviously there is no problem with being North Korean – the problem is the regime – and the United States would even accept defectors into its workforce. However, they were not plain remote workers. They had fake identities and were dispatched in China and Russia, two – relative – allies of North Korea. 

Why did they not defect? 

Their presence abroad is by design and within countries that are cooperating with North Korea. It is somewhat easier for an ordinary citizen to escape, even if there are fewer means, because their profile is low. Naturally, North Korea is monitoring every step and they are not too many in numbers either. To add to that, those individuals may genuinely want to help their country, driven by nationalism. 

So what about these remittances? 

Remittances constitute a source of income on a national level, especially in countries like Jordan, mentioned in countless examples and papers. The idea is that in some foreign countries with strong currencies it is more efficient to save and send it back to the home country. There, the family will exchange the currency and enjoy much bigger purchasing power. Consequently, rarely do remittances help with the state’s investments. It’s more like an informal welfare system for families, boosting savings and consumption. Hence, the North Korean case is much different, because the money goes to a much larger family – the government. It makes sense because ordinary citizens of North Korea do not have this access to international payments. This is smart, as North Korea desperately needs foreign exchange – it is having a hard time financing basic activities internationally due to sanctions.  

Why IT workers? 

It is true that any remote work would be fine as long as it is funding the North Korean government. However, IT workers have access to much more data. This is a jackpot for them. Even if they are not expert hackers, they are probably able to extract sensitive data. This data can then be exploited either for further profit or further infiltration by actual hackers.   

Moreover, there is a stereotype that North Koreans are not technologically competent, because the wider population does not have access to Western technological products. While there may be truth to this stereotype, blindly following it makes one vulnerable to such infiltration by a small government-led minority that is more than capable. 

What’s more, IT workers have the privilege of working at multiple jobs at the same time due to the nature of their work. This phenomenon is called overemployment. This could potentially mean that the workers appear more than they actually are, with multiple fake IDs.

All of this leads to the conclusion that the return to the office after the pandemic is closely related to security – commercial and national. Though businesses are mostly private, the information they hold may be indirectly connected to states, through individuals, governmental deals and anything imaginable with a digital trail.  

References and Useful Resources 

1. Associated Press (2023, October 19). North Korean IT workers sent US pay home for weapons program, says FBI. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/19/north-korea-remote-us-workers-missile-program
2. Jordan Strategy Forum. IN A NUTSHELL THE ECONOMICS OF JORDANIAN REMITTANCES WHERE DO WE STAND? WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS? https://jsf.org/uploads/2023/01/en-in-a-nutshell-remittances.pdf 
3. Ito A. (2023, November 23). Inside the strange, secretive rise of the ‘overemployed’. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/overemployed-workers-secret-two-multiple-jobs-salaries-tech-tips-2023-11 
4. Washburn L. (2022, May 21). Security News This Week: North Korean IT Workers Are Infiltrating Tech Companies. Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/north-korea-it-workers-security-roundup/