North Korea using crypto, IT workers to dodge U.N. sanctions

North Korea using crypto, IT workers to dodge U.N. sanctions | Daily Tribune

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea is circumventing United Nations (UN) sanctions by using cryptocurrency to trade raw materials and military weaponry, and by deploying large numbers of IT workers abroad to launder funds and generate income for Pyongyang, an international sanctions monitoring group reported.

Under leader Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang has ramped up cyber operations in recent years, turning hacking into a key source of foreign currency in the face of biting sanctions over its nuclear and weapons programs.

The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) found that North Korea’s sophisticated cyber force had stolen at least $1.65 billion from January to September 2025, including $1.4 billion from crypto exchange Bybit in February.

That was in addition to North Korea’s ill-gotten cryptocurrency gains of $1.2 billion in 2024, the monitoring group said in a report Wednesday.

Pyongyang funnels the funds into “the unlawful development of its WMD (weapons of mass destruction) and ballistic missile programs,” it said.

The report’s authors found that North Korean officials used a type of cryptocurrency called stablecoin “for procurement-related transactions, including the sale and transfer of military equipment and raw materials such as copper, which is used in munitions production.”

The country further evaded UN sanctions by sending IT workers to at least eight countries.

Most went to China, but others were dispatched to Russia, Laos, Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Nigeria and Tanzania.

MSMT also found that North Korea was planning to send “40,000 laborers to Russia, including several delegations of IT workers.”

The MSMT also cited a 2024 report by 38 North, a specialist analysis program run by the Stimson Center think tank, stating that North Korean IT workers —hiding their nationalities — secured contracts to work on animation projects that were being steered by Japanese and United States companies like Amazon and HBO Max.

Under UN sanctions, North Korean workers are prohibited from earning money abroad.