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North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

theregister.com

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Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#101

Post by themafia »

narrator wrote: post #55

North Korea runs like a big organized crime family that specializes in forced labor human trafficking and drugs. I've read that they even operate overseas businesses that send slaves that aren't allowed to leave those businesses such as for timber harvesting in the Russian far east and various businesses in South East Asia. The Latin American cartels operate almost like miniature North Koreas.

This is why JFK considered it so important for the US to end it's imperial tendencies.

It's like that 90's cocaine commercial. "Where'd you learn to do this?" "I learned it by watching you, allright?!"

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#102

Post by hsuduebc2 »

>Alternatively, there is a killer interview question, as reported by The Register previously: ask them something like "How fat is Kim Jong Un?" and if they are a North Korean, they will terminate the call instantly.

I wonder if they know that he is fat and are afraid to tell, or that it is strictly forbidden to answer these types of questions. I don't really believe this "hack" can work long term.

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#103

Post by dopesoap »

mikkupikku wrote: post #73
948382828528 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[dead]

Even other communist dictatorships are pretty sick of North Korea's shit!

Wow so you guys don't have ideological brain worms at all. I can tell you guys have never studied international relations because you refuse to try an take North Koreas concerns seriously. Do I have to remind you that a South Korean attempted a fascist coup recently and that it was left wing organisations and trade unions that mobilised to stop him? Also which "communist dictators" are you talking about, and how do you know this? You do realise that the United States is also a one party state when it comes to foreign policy right?

If you love freedom so much shouldn't this be worrying more? https://www.npr.org/2025/04/22/nx-s1-5340753/trump-democracy...

For any one interested in learning a bit more about North Korea and how it got to be the country it is I'd suggest Noah Kulwins series Blowback.

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#104

Post by fhd2 »

rustyhancock wrote: post #51
mlmonkey wrote: post #36

A friend of mine got two such "fake" candidates for a coding interview. His experience reminded me of those "Nigerian Prince" emails from 20 years ago. These two gentlemen had western names (like "Brandon Smith") but Asian features and a tenuous grasp of spoken English; even though they claimed to have undergrad degrees from US universities. And he could tell they were looking at another screen to copy code from. Aft…

Frankly sounds like many "real" candidates I've interviewed. The tenuous grasp of spoken English despite a degree taught in English is also not unusual. Setting aside the fraud for a moment (which is an insurmountable barrier to employeeing them). To some extent I'd be satisfied if they actually had a degree and were productive. They obviously need good enough receptive and written English to work. Especially if they…

> Especially if they are earning 5k per year as the title suggests.

Not sure that's how the math goes. TFA mentions every employed worker has a team behind them, and is often successful in their job as a result.

Kinda fascinating. Here we are, usually dreaming about how one person could do multiple jobs. There they are, having multiple people do one job in the best (looking) way.

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#105

Post by skinnymuch »

bit-anarchist wrote: post #98
memonkey wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know we're getting deep in the meta discussion but the free will that you're describing involves basically starving to death. Sure, you can walk away but unless you're well off, we all basically live in the same society that makes sure you are ALWAYS dependent on some kind of wage. You cannot live off the land, build housing, or eat food without some kind of income in the modern world. And thus the concept of wage…

But wage slavery, while bad, isn't slavery still. In slavery proper, the option of walking away straight up doesn't exist. In fact, in extreme cases, even the option of dying might not be available.

It is slavery. Chattel slavery is much more severe than what we normally consider slavery. Yet “slavery” and chattel slavery are both still slavery. The reason what you’re saying is so accepted is because we are currently living under a universal liberal world order that says wage slavery id freedom.

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#106

Post by mikkupikku »

dopesoap wrote: post #93
mikkupikku wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lot's of people have tried trading with North Korea, but they're politically unreliable. China and Russia both try obviously, but so has South Korea. These cooperations usually work for a while but eventually the unreliable reality of the North Korean government wrecks it for them. If it were all America's fault, as these sort of regimes always claim, they'd be able to get on well enough with their neighbors, but the…

The United States plays a large role in destabilizing them I went to a lecture at my university where a South Korean professor said as much. He was hardly a fan of the North Korean regime. At this point the regime has zero interest in cooperation, I'm sorry but your government is slowly becoming an authoritarian state in its own right and is currently causing chaos at the behest of Israel a country which just commute…

The US has fuck all to do with it. Vietnam whooped America's ass in a war which was far more socially significant for the American public (the Korean War is called the "Forgotten War" in America), still has their communist government, yet has normalized (relatively) relations with America and certainly the rest of the world and trades with everybody. North Korea is economically isolated because they refuse to be normal even by communist standards.

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#107

Post by krunck »

FpUser wrote: post #43
abtinf wrote: post #7

I’m a little unclear on the usage of the word “fake” here. Going by article, these are real people doing actual real work, they often use stolen identities to conceal information about themselves, and they get help from outside sources to do their jobs better. Whatever the right word is, it’s not “fake”. Maybe fraudulent? Or ulterior motives? Or deceptive? Or pretext? Or threat actor? Or foreign agents?

Who cares what they're called. Main concern in this case is that the result of their work poses danger to the US. Like a spies. They often do legit work and meanwhile some "extra"

"the result of their work poses danger to the US"

I doubt it.

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#108

Post by skinnymuch »

dopesoap wrote: post #93
mikkupikku wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lot's of people have tried trading with North Korea, but they're politically unreliable. China and Russia both try obviously, but so has South Korea. These cooperations usually work for a while but eventually the unreliable reality of the North Korean government wrecks it for them. If it were all America's fault, as these sort of regimes always claim, they'd be able to get on well enough with their neighbors, but the…

The United States plays a large role in destabilizing them I went to a lecture at my university where a South Korean professor said as much. He was hardly a fan of the North Korean regime. At this point the regime has zero interest in cooperation, I'm sorry but your government is slowly becoming an authoritarian state in its own right and is currently causing chaos at the behest of Israel a country which just commute…

The US has been authoritarian for a long time. What else do you call a society that keeps on humming along while doing various genocides via a culturally embedded Monroe Doctrine mentality.

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#109

Post by bit-anarchist »

dopesoap wrote: post #93
mikkupikku wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lot's of people have tried trading with North Korea, but they're politically unreliable. China and Russia both try obviously, but so has South Korea. These cooperations usually work for a while but eventually the unreliable reality of the North Korean government wrecks it for them. If it were all America's fault, as these sort of regimes always claim, they'd be able to get on well enough with their neighbors, but the…

The United States plays a large role in destabilizing them I went to a lecture at my university where a South Korean professor said as much. He was hardly a fan of the North Korean regime. At this point the regime has zero interest in cooperation, I'm sorry but your government is slowly becoming an authoritarian state in its own right and is currently causing chaos at the behest of Israel a country which just commute…

Okay, let me remind you then.

Korea was divided by both United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union organized elections, rigging towards a rather unpopular figure, even within the national socialist circles, for their imperialist purposes.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but where did OP state was american? How is their nationality even relevant here? How is the american descent to authoritarianism, which is still far from a autocratic socialist regime (at least yet), relevant to NK being distrusted even by USA's opposition (i.e. China and Russia)?

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#110

Post by BigTTYGothGF »

energy123 wrote: post #49
gpm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the lack of oil that enabled this. The west* fought a bloody war to defeat North Korea. We just didn't win (though we did prevent the north from taking the south...). Now you've got a dictatorship protected by their ability to deal devastating damage to South Korea via nukes, huge stockpiles of conventional artillery (and Seoul is within range), etc. Moreover one backed by a superpower (China, and before Chi…

South Korea wouldn't exist as a prosperous Western-aligned liberal democracy without the war, so it was hardly a complete loss.

> South Korea wouldn't exist as a prosperous Western-aligned liberal democracy without the war

The first several decades after the war they were very much not a liberal democracy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Democratic_Struggle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Republic_of_Korea).

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