CaliToday (25/10/2025): North Korea is operating a sophisticated, two-pronged global operation to fund its illicit nuclear and weapons programs, a damning new report from an international sanctions monitoring group reveals. By deploying a digital "ghost army" of elite hackers and a physical army of covert IT workers, Pyongyang is successfully laundering billions of dollars and rendering international sanctions increasingly irrelevant.
The report from the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) details a state-sponsored criminal enterprise that has stolen staggering sums of cryptocurrency and has even infiltrated the supply chains of major U.S. companies like Amazon.
The $1.65 Billion Digital Heist
Under leader Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang's cyber operations have evolved from a nuisance to a core pillar of the nation's economy. The MSMT report found that North Korea's sophisticated cyber force had stolen at least $1.65 billion from January to September 2025 alone.
This nine-month haul, which includes the catastrophic $1.4 billion hack of the crypto exchange Bybit in February, is in addition to the $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency North Korea illicitly gained in 2024.
The MSMT report confirms these funds are not for luxury goods; they are funneled directly into "the unlawful development of its WMD (weapons of mass destruction) and ballistic missile programs."
The report provides a rare glimpse into how this stolen money is laundered and spent. North Korean officials are actively using stablecoins a type of cryptocurrency pegged to stable assets like the US dollar "for procurement-related transactions." This allows them to bypass the global banking system to purchase "military equipment and raw materials such as copper, which is used in munitions production."
The Hidden Human Army: From Moscow to Your TV Screen
The second, more insidious pillar of the operation is a global network of highly-skilled North Korean IT workers, sent abroad to earn foreign currency while hiding their true identities.
These workers, who are prohibited from earning money abroad under UN sanctions, were dispatched to at least eight countries. While most went to China, others were tracked to Russia, Laos, Cambodia, and several nations in Africa, including Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Tanzania.
Highlighting a deepening alliance, the MSMT also found that North Korea was planning to send "40,000 labourers to Russia, including several delegations of IT workers," a move that follows Pyongyang's support for Moscow's war in Ukraine with weapons and thousands of troops.
The most shocking revelation, however, is where some of these IT workers have ended up.
Citing a 2024 report from the 38 North think tank, the MSMT revealed that North Korean IT workers hiding their nationalities and working remotely have successfully secured contracts to work on animation projects steered by Japanese and US companies, including Amazon and HBO Max.
This builds on previous reports that Pyongyang's state-owned animation studio, SEK, assisted on Western projects, famously including 2007's "The Simpsons Movie."
An Amazon spokesperson, when contacted by AFP, stressed the company "had never hired any such workers directly." The spokesperson stated, "We had previously worked with an animation studio that hired sub-contractors who were allegedly involved... they were not Amazon employees and didn't have access to internal systems." HBO did not respond to a request for comment.
A Multi-Faceted Infiltration
This "human" network is also used for cyber-espionage. Seoul's intelligence agency reported last year that North Korean operatives had used LinkedIn to pose as recruiters, approaching South Korean employees at defense firms to steal sensitive technology.
The MSMT which comprises 11 nations including the US, UK, South Korea, and Japan paints a clear picture of a rogue state that has successfully weaponized the digital economy. While sanctions have crippled its physical trade, North Korea has built a resilient and highly profitable criminal enterprise online, turning code and crypto into the cash it needs to build its next generation of missiles.