WASHINGTON — In an alarming portrait of a 21st-century rogue state, an international report has detailed how North Korea is financing its nuclear ambitions by orchestrating a massive, clandestine campaign of digital theft, pilfering billions of dollars from cryptocurrency exchanges and embedding a "phantom workforce" of fake IT professionals inside foreign tech companies.
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| People perform during the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin) |
The striking 138-page review, published by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, concludes that Pyongyang has weaponized the digital economy to fund the research and development of its nuclear arms, successfully evading a wall of international sanctions.
The report, a joint effort by the United States and 10 key allies, paints a picture of a nation that, despite its isolation, has invested so heavily in offensive cyber capabilities that it now rivals the sophistication of China and Russia.
This new cyber-superpower, the investigators concluded, poses a "significant threat to foreign governments, businesses and individuals" on a global scale.
A New Breed of State-Sponsored Theft
While other nations like China, Russia, and Iran typically use their cyber capabilities for espionage, intellectual property theft, or disruption, North Korea’s primary motive is starkly different: cold, hard cash.
The monitoring group found that Pyongyang has laser-focused its formidable hacking skills on funding its government. The report directly links North Korea’s (DPRK) cyber actions to:
Funding for its "unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs."
The "destruction of physical computer equipment" and "endangerment of human lives."
The "private citizens’ loss of assets and property."
The monitoring team which includes the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and several European allies was formed last year after Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution to continue an expert panel monitoring Pyongyang’s activities. This new report, aided in part by intelligence showing North Korea receives support from allies in Russia and China, is the first comprehensive look at its financial-theft operations.
Tactic 1: The Digital Bank Heists
North Korea's hackers have become notoriously adept at targeting the volatile and often poorly secured world of cryptocurrency. The report details how hackers working for the regime have relentlessly targeted foreign exchanges with sophisticated malware.
Their goal is twofold: steal sensitive data and, more importantly, drain the digital wallets.
Earlier this year, hackers linked to North Korea’s intelligence service pulled off one of the largest crypto heists in history, siphoning $1.5 billion in Ethereum from the exchange Bybit. The stolen funds are then laundered through a complex web of digital tumblers and exchanges to make military purchases, completely bypassing the international financial system.
Tactic 2: The 'Phantom' Tech Employees
Perhaps the most brazen tactic revealed is North Korea's use of a remote "phantom workforce."
Federal authorities have alleged that thousands of highly-skilled IT workers employed by U.S. and other foreign companies were actually North Korean nationals using sophisticated stolen or fake identities.
These operatives successfully passed interviews, landed remote-work jobs, and became embedded inside corporate America. From this position of trust, they gained access to sensitive internal systems while funneling their U.S. dollar salaries often holding several remote jobs at the same time to maximize revenue directly back to the North Korean government.
This "inside job" strategy provides a steady, reliable stream of foreign currency to fund the state's weapons programs, all while U.S. companies unwittingly paid for it.
The report serves as a stark warning: North Korea is no longer just a "hermit kingdom." It is a sophisticated and dangerous digital adversary that has successfully turned the global economy into its own personal treasury to defy sanctions and build weapons that threaten the world.
A message left with North Korea's mission to the U.N. was not immediately returned for comment.