PYONGYANG (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Department of State's Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program has offered rewards totaling up to $15 million for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions of North Korean nationals Sim Hyon-sop and six co-conspirators involved in North Korea's malicious and illicit revenue generation schemes.
North Korea's revenue generation schemes, which include cryptocurrency theft, illicit information technology work, trafficking in counterfeit goods, oil smuggling, and other transnational criminal activities, often target U.S. companies and U.S. citizens to raise funds for North Korea's dangerous WMD and ballistic missile programs, which threaten the U.S. security.
The State Department accused North Korea of supplying many of these ballistic missiles to Russia to attack Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv.
Sim Hyon-Sop and six co-conspirators were charged for their role in illicit activities to buy and sell tobacco from North Korea to gain access to U.S. dollars. The Department of State's reward offers include an increase of up to $7 million for Sim Hyon-Sop, up to $3 million each for Myong Chol-Min and Kim Se-Un, and up to $500,000 each for Kim Yong-Bok, Kim Chol-Min, a/k/a 'Jack,' Ri Tong-Min, a/k/a 'Elvis,' and Ri Won-Ho.
Sim Hyon-Sop and some of his co-conspirators, including Kim Se-Un, have also been involved in illicit IT worker schemes. North Korea dispatches thousands of IT workers abroad to orchestrate fraudulent IT work, often from Russia and China.
In a separate action, the Department of the Treasury on Thursday designated Korea Sobaeksu Trading Company, which has previously deployed IT workers to Vietnam, and three North Korean nationals, including Kim Se Un, Myong Chol Min, and Jo Kyong Hun, who have been involved in illicit revenue generation schemes.
In addition, Christina Marie Chapman, an American citizen, has been sentenced in the District of Columbia for her role in a North Korean IT worker scheme that defrauded more than 300 U.S. companies, including Fortune 500 corporations. North Korean IT workers specifically target remote jobs with U.S. companies due to the high salaries, which they remit back to North Korea to fund the unlawful production of WMD and ballistic missiles, a State Department spokesperson said in a press release.
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