SEOUL: North Korea is circumventing 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&#39;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&#39;s ill-gotten cryptocurrency gains of $1.2 billion in 2024, the monitoring group said in a report Wednesday. Pyongyang funnels the funds into &ldquo;the unlawful development of its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs,&rdquo; it said. The report&#39;s authors found that North Korean officials used a type of cryptocurrency called stablecoin &ldquo;for procurement-related transactions, including the sale and transfer of military equipment and raw materials such as copper, which is used in munitions production.&rdquo; 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 &ldquo;40,000 laborers to Russia, including several delegations of IT workers.&rdquo; Under UN sanctions, North Korean workers are prohibited from earning money abroad. North Korea has secured crucial backing from Russia in recent years after sending weapons and thousands of North Korean troops to fight alongside Moscow&#39;s forces against Ukraine. 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 &mdash; hiding their nationalities &mdash; secured contracts to work on animation projects that were being steered by Japanese and US companies like Amazon and HBO Max. An Amazon spokesperson contacted by AFP stressed that the company had never hired any such workers directly. &ldquo;We had previously worked with an animation studio that hired subcontractors who were allegedly involved in the scheme; however, they were not Amazon employees and didn&#39;t have access to internal systems,&rdquo; the spokesperson said. HBO did not respond to an AFP request for comment. The report said the North Korean animators also worked for companies such as Pyongyang&#39;s state-owned animation studio SEK &mdash; previously reported to have assisted in Western projects such as 2007&#39;s &ldquo;The Simpsons Movie.&rdquo; Seoul&#39;s intelligence agency last year said North Korean operatives had used LinkedIn to pose as recruiters and approach South Koreans working at defense firms to obtain information on their technologies. The MSMT, launched last October, monitors and reports violations of UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea, though it operates independently of the UN. It comprises Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, the UK and the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks at a Pyongyang memorial groundbreaking on Oct. 23, 2025, highlighting growing ties with Moscow. (AFP)

Crypto

North Korea is evading UN sanctions by using cryptocurrency for illicit trade and deploying IT workers overseas to launder money, funding its weapons programs and generating income for Pyongyang.


North Korea uses crypto, IT workers to evade sanctions: report

SEOUL: North Korea showed off its &quot;most powerful&quot; intercontinental ballistic missile at a military parade attended by top officials from Russia and China, Pyongyang&#39;s state media reported Saturday. The event to mark 80 years under the ruling Workers&#39; Party came as leader Kim Jong Un has been emboldened by the war in Ukraine, securing critical support from Russia after sending thousands of North Korean troops to fight alongside Moscow&#39;s forces. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia&#39;s Security Council and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, attended the parade Friday alongside Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Vietnam&#39;s leader To Lam -- all seated near Kim, according to images released by the official Korean Central News Agency. Intercontinental ballistic missileThe spectacle featured some of the country&#39;s most advanced weapons, including its new Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which KCNA described as its &quot;most powerful nuclear strategic weapon system&quot;. Thousands of people in colorful traditional dress filled the streets of the North Korean capital for the late-night event, the images showed, waving national flags and cheering as weapons rumbled down the main streets. Among the featured weapons, long-range strategic cruise missiles, drone launch vehicles, and ground-to-air and ground-to-ground missiles paraded one after another, KCNA added. &lsquo;Invincible&rsquo; army&nbsp;The country&#39;s &quot;invincible&quot; army &quot;has always added doubled strength to our Party&#39;s efforts to overcome difficulties and bring earlier a bright future&quot;, Kim said in a speech. He made an apparent nod to North Korean troops fighting alongside Moscow&#39;s forces in Russia&#39;s war against Ukraine. &quot;The heroic fighting spirit displayed, and the victory achieved, by our revolutionary armed forces on the foreign battlefields for international justice ... demonstrated the ideological and spiritual perfection,&quot; he said, according to KCNA. Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, Seoul has said. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">&lsquo;In love&rsquo; &nbsp;</h2>The parade displayed the isolated, nuclear-armed country&#39;s &quot;inexhaustible defense technology potential and its astonishing pace of development that the world can no longer ignore&quot;, KCNA said. The celebrations in Pyongyang come after Seoul said a meeting between North Korea and the United States &quot;cannot be ruled out&quot; on the sidelines of this year&#39;s APEC summit in South Korea. US President Donald Trump met Kim three times during his first term and once said the pair had fallen &quot;in love&quot;, but he ultimately failed to secure a lasting agreement on North Korea&#39;s nuclear programme. &lsquo;Irreversible&rsquo; nuclear state&nbsp;Since then Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an &quot;irreversible&quot; nuclear state. Last month, Kim appeared alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin at an elaborate military parade in Beijing. In a joint statement from Moscow and Pyongyang released by KCNA earlier this week, Russia&#39;s ruling party said it &quot;expressed firm support for the measures taken&quot; by North Korea &quot;to bolster up the country&#39;s defense capabilities&quot;. &lsquo;Structural shift&rsquo;&nbsp;Seong-Hyon Lee, a visiting scholar at the Harvard University Asia Center, told AFP: &quot;It is crucial to see this parade not as an isolated event, but as the culmination of a deliberate, structural shift in regional geopolitics.&quot;&quot;It serves as a stark warning that Seoul&#39;s strengthened alliance with Washington will be met with a consolidated and powerful trilateral bloc on its doorstep.&quot;&nbsp;

Asia

The intercontinental ballistic missile was put on display at a military parade attended by top officials from Russia and China; the event was held to mark 80 years under the ruling Workers' Party. 

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North Korea uses crypto, IT workers to evade sanctions: report

North Korea shows off 'most powerful' missile at military parade