OFAC Sanctions People, Entities Involved in North Korean IT Workers Scheme
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two people and four entities for helping the North Korean government earn revenue overseas, including through information technology workers stationed around the world.
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The designations target Department 53 of The Ministry of The People’s Armed Forces, a North Korean weapons-trading agency that also generates revenue using front companies in IT and software development sectors. One of its front companies, Korea Osong Shipping Co, has overseen groups of Laos-stationed North Korean IT workers since at least 2022. Those workers use aliases to provide IT services for clients, and they send their compensation back to the North Korean government, OFAC said.
The agency also sanctioned another Department 53 front company, Chonsurim Trading Corporation, which also has ties to a group of North Korean IT workers in Laos. The company ordered those workers to use fake “credentials” to do IT work for companies around the world.
OFAC sanctioned Jong In Chol for being the president of Chonsurim’s North Korean IT worker delegation in Laos and Son Kyong Sik for being the chief representative of Department 53's Korea Osong in China. It also sanctioned Liaoning China Trade Industry Co., Ltd, a China-based company that has shipped equipment to Department 53 that allows the agency to “conduct its IT worker activities abroad.”