NORTH KOREA INFILTRATION: Thousands Of Operatives Secretly Working Inside U.S. Companies

FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a session of the Supreme People's Assembly at parliament in Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 23, 2026. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

North Korea has built a covert workforce inside American companies, using stolen identities, artificial intelligence and U.S.-based facilitators to secure remote jobs and funnel hundreds of millions of dollars back to Kim Jong Un’s regime, according to a yearlong investigation by The Wall Street Journal.

The FBI says thousands of North Korean operatives are applying for jobs across the United States. The Journal tracked one cell using leaked browser histories, emails, calendars and screen recordings taken from the workers’ own computers, revealing how deeply AI has become embedded in the scheme.

In just over three months, the cell applied to more than 1,000 companies, using AI to create résumés and cover letters and even reading answers generated by ChatGPT during job interviews. As employers became more adept at identifying suspicious applicants, some workers reportedly began using AI face-swapping technology to disguise themselves during interviews.

The operation also relies heavily on people inside the United States. Because company laptops cannot simply be shipped to North Korea, facilitators keep the computers in America while North Korean workers remotely access them. Some facilitators also open bank accounts, cash checks and participate in interviews or company meetings on behalf of the workers. One Ohio man said he split the salary evenly with North Korean workers on a $75,000-a-year position.

The operatives frequently use stolen American identities to pass employment screenings, sometimes juggling several identities and multiple jobs simultaneously. One Georgia man whose identity was used in the scheme said the fallout left him unable to open a bank account, obtain loans or rent a home.

The financial scale of the operation is enormous. Some North Korean IT workers earn as much as $300,000 annually, and the U.S. Treasury Department has found that up to 90% of their salaries can be sent back to the regime. Recent estimates place the total revenue generated by the operation at as much as $800 million per year.

The Journal said its investigation traced money moving through networks of North Korean IT workers and cybercriminals before eventually reaching a company sanctioned by the United States in connection with Pyongyang’s weapons program.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)