Anchor: The government has urged South Korean companies to exercise caution and strengthen identification efforts to avoid hiring disguised North Korean IT workers. It believes the North is funneling foreign currency earned from illegal cyber activities to nuclear and missile development. 
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.

Report: In a joint statement on Tuesday, the ministries of foreign affairs, science and unification as well as the National Intelligence Service called on domestic businesses to be wary of employing North Korean IT workers by mistake.

The agencies said the government has assessed from a preemptive inspection that it is possible for the North’s IT specialists to fake their identities and gain employment in or win contract projects from South Korean companies.

The government advised firms to exercise caution as taking on North Korean IT hands would not only tarnish their reputations but also violate related domestic and international sanctions, including the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act, as well as UN Security Council resolutions.

The agencies cited that the North’s IT labor force brings in hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign currency every year through such work, adding that most of their revenues are funneled into the North’s development of nuclear weapons and missiles.

The inter-agency warning detailed how North Korean IT workers obtain fake identities and what precautions companies should take when using South Korean job search platforms and when seeking global hires for projects.

The government said the North’s IT workers can forge identities or borrow other people’s accounts when seeking work or joining job-searching websites. There are some cases of North Koreans teaming up with international IT specialists as subcontractors on a project.

The ministries recommended businesses to authenticate identities of participants when delegating work to outside workforce.

The government said it hopes the advisory will help companies build safer online job-search systems and block the North from siphoning information or illicitly earning foreign currency in cyber space to raise funds for its nuclear and missile programs.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.