Execs in Japan busted for winning dev bids then outsourcing to North Koreans Two executives were issued arrest warrants in Japan on Wednesday, reportedly for charges related to establishing a business that outsourced work to North Korean IT engineers. At least one of the individuals – a 53 year old named Pak Hyon-il – is a South Korean national. His alleged accomplice, 42-year old Toshiron Minomo, is …
If you're living in a country next door to another country which is run by a nuclear armed despot with a known penchant for throwing tantrums (and who may or may not be a few sandwiches short of a picnic), you would think that going out of your way to send money to him, might not be the best idea in the long run.
But then I guess that's the problem with idiots like this, no-one thinks the madman is going to start lobbying Nukes tomorrow, so why not get rich today? Muppets...
I thought NK was practically completely isolated from the rest of the world.
Yes, I know Bhina has "graciously" provided the worst leader of the world with Internet connectivity, and closes a blind eye to all the crime that NK is perpetrating thanks to that.
But how does anyone transfer money to a NK bank account ? Is this another case of funny money shenanigans ?
In any case, somebody should cut that line. Nothing good is coming of it.
I'm only speculating but...
Money transferred to a Chinese bank account (contractors are in China, so that's natural enough)... Then either transfer this money to a bank which happily does transfer money to Fat Boy Kim's personal bank account. Or if that's considered too obvious, then money extracted from Chinese Bank Account, gold or equivalent valuable goods purchased, given to a suitable North Korean Mule, and walked across the border to be delivered to the North Korean Treasury.
If China decided to crackdown, it would make this significantly harder, but they overtly support North Korea as a counter to the US/South Korean influence. They have lost significant influence though, as with Kim and Vlad having a little love in, if China shut the Pipes, Russia would simply try to reopen them... Whether that would be enough though, who knows?
Transferring cocaine or opiates like fentanyl across national borders is also illegal (as is the laundering of the proceeds of selling it) but it doesn't seem to stop the trade So I daresay that transferring work to N. Korea and managing the proceeds is actually a lot easier since the crime, such as it is, is truly victimless. Its really an offense against national policy (or, many would suggest "US Hegemony") which for many these days is almost a matter of national pride. This is what happens when you overdo sanctions regimes. I'd guess that trade between China and N.Korea (for example) is now an open secret since we've decided to draw China into our web of sanctions.
A recent news article said that the US was investigating whether SMIC supplying Huawei with processors "was in violation of US law". Nobody who reported this stopped to ask why two Chinese companies trading between themselves would be subject to US law, much less wondered how the optics of this type of statement appeared to people in China. Given this climate trading with the DPRK is now almost a patriotic duty and I expect the sentiment is shared by innumerable other people around the world. This has nothing to do with the merits of particular sanctions regimes but merely that their ham-fisted application to blatantly serve national interests is likely to get peoples' backs up.
NK gets most of its connectivity, power and fuel from Russia via the railway line to Vladivostock - an artifact of its creation by Stalin
China tried cutting off energy and connectivity for several months in 2004, only for the kleptocracy to keep feeding at the trough, letting the provinces (particularly those adjacent to China) freeze and starve, which in turn resulted in increased levels of cross-border defections
If the world really wants to do something about the Kims, it needs to pledge support for China having to deal with several million people crossing north in search of food - and for SK taking them in afterwards
The way things are going, Russia's east coast is unlikely to remain Russian for much longer (Either independent or Chinese, it will have the same effect in terms of further isolating the Kims)
Any Japanese geek should be able to name four current members of AKB48. If they can't, decline their services and get it done properly - outsourced to India.
NK's primary role is to keep nationalists in JP in power and give SK's nationalists a boost. Polls dipping? NK launches an unguided firework into the sea. Panic bells, it's red alert, there's something here from somewhere else. Up goes the nationalist vote. The LDP have been out of power in Japan just twice since 1955.
I remember years ago there was a story about some Facebook(?) employee who outsourced his own job to someone in China(?) and then spent his days watching cat videos on YouTube. On the one hand, you kind of have to hand it to them for the ingenuity of it all, but at the same time, why shouldn't Facebook (or whoever) just cut out the middle man and hire the person actually doing the work? They could give that person a 10% raise, which should make them happy because they're making more money, and Facebook is probably still saving a bundle on salary.
He was working for Verizon - article:Security audit finds dev outsourced his job to China to goof off at work
Sounds like he was doing a better job at getting quality work than most Outsourced stuff I've seen
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