Made for Export: North Korea’s Software Catalog
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An email discovered last year that was sent from North Korea’s internet infrastructure offers a rare look at how DPRK software developers market their work abroad. While most recent reporting has focused on North Korean IT workers fraudulently obtaining jobs at Western companies, the documents attached to this message appear to represent something different: a catalog of domestically developed software being pitched to commercial partners overseas.
As reported by Daily NK in late 2025, North Korea had previously sent around one hundred IT workers to the Chinese border city of Dandong in order to work on app development as well as website work. These workers were typically assigned in groups of fifteen and living in rented apartments overseas with the goal of earning foreign currency for the regime. While there is plenty of coverage of the employment scams conducted by the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), outsourced labor to foreign markets is …
As reported by Daily NK in late 2025, North Korea had previously sent around one hundred IT workers to the Chinese border city of Dandong in order to work on app development as well as website work. These workers were typically assigned in groups of fifteen and living in rented apartments overseas with the goal of earning foreign currency for the regime. While there is plenty of coverage of the employment scams conducted by the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), outsourced labor to foreign markets is …