Under Kim Jong Un’s leadership, Pyongyang has intensified its cyber operations, turning hacking into a significant source of foreign currency amid stringent sanctions over its nuclear and weapons programs.
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Under Kim Jong Un’s leadership, Pyongyang has intensified its cyber operations, turning hacking into a significant source of foreign currency amid stringent sanctions over its nuclear and weapons programs.
North Korea is reportedly circumventing UN sanctions by leveraging cryptocurrency and deploying IT workers abroad, according to a recent report by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT).
Under Kim Jong Un’s leadership, Pyongyang has intensified its cyber operations, turning hacking into a significant source of foreign currency amid stringent sanctions over its nuclear and weapons programs. The MSMT found that North Korea’s cyber force had stolen at least $1.65 billion from January to September 2025, including $1.4 billion from the crypto exchange Bybit in February.
The report indicates that North Korean officials used stablecoins for procurement-related transactions, including the sale and transfer of military equipment and raw materials such as copper, which is used in munitions production.
Additionally, the country has 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 labourers to Russia, including several delegations of IT workers.”
Under UN sanctions, North Korean workers are prohibited from earning money abroad.
The MSMT also cited a 2024 report stating that North Korean IT workers, hiding their nationalities, secured contracts to work on animation projects for companies like Amazon and HBO Max. However, an Amazon spokesperson clarified that the company had never hired such workers directly.
The report highlights the sophisticated methods employed by North Korea to bypass international sanctions and fund its weapons programs, raising concerns about the effectiveness of current sanctions enforcement.
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