US claims North Korea put workers in US companies to extort money for weapons

WASHINGTON - The United States on Thursday offered a $5 million reward for information about an alleged scheme in which North Korean technology workers got jobs at unsuspecting U.S. companies then stole their trade secrets for ransom, with the proceeds used to fund Pyongyang's weapons programs.

The U.S. State Department said about 130 North Korean workers got IT jobs at U.S. companies and nonprofits from 2017 to 2023 and generated at least $88 million that Pyongyang used for weapons of mass destruction.

Part of the total was the workers' compensation from the employers, which ultimately went to the North Korean government, the U.S. said. The companies were not identified.

The North Korea mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The State Department said in a statement it sought information on two sanctioned North Korean companies -- China-based Yanbian Silverstar Network Technology and Russia-based Volasys Silverstar -- that it said handled the workers.

The U.S. Department of Justice separately on Thursday announced indictments of 14 North Koreans accused of operating and working for the two companies as part of the scheme.

Operating from either China or Russia, the workers stole sensitive company information, including proprietary source computer code, and threatened to leak it unless the employer made an extortion payment, the government said.

The 14 people were charged with wire fraud, money laundering and identity theft among other offenses.

"To prop up its brutal regime, the North Korean government directs IT workers to gain employment through fraud, steal sensitive information from U.S. companies and siphon money back to the DPRK," Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement, using an acronym for the North Korean state.

The people and their unnamed associates used the stolen identities of hundreds of Americans to get hired under the scheme, the government said.

People in the U.S. aided the scheme by purchasing laptops or receiving laptops from U.S. employers for the fraudulent workers. The Justice Department has obtained indictments of Americans accused of operating so-called laptop farms in recent months.

One North Korean IT defector told Reuters in November 2023 that he would try to get hired and then create additional fake social media profiles to secure more jobs.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and AJ Vicens; editing by Costas Pitas)