Transcript
Kim Ji Min (0:00)
Chatgpt AI Machine Satellite engine ignition.
Dina Templerest (0:04)
Click here and lift up.
Dina Templerest (0:09)
Hey, it's Dena. The Click Here team is taking a short breather, just long enough to get ahead on reporting for 2026. And when we come back in the new year, we've got a little surprise waiting for you. It involves transmitters and antennas, and let's just say we're going back to our roots. More on that soon. But for now, we wanted to revisit a story from last spring that's been lingering with us for years. North Korea has been quietly exporting something unexpected. An army of IT workers. Not to innovate, but to infiltrate. They pose as remote workers, slip into companies and burrow into their systems, often funneling the proceeds back to Pyongyang. And we sat down with one of them, a defector who walked us through the machinery of that hidden digital economy and what it cost him to leave it behind. Here's his story.
Kim Ji Min (1:11)
When you first go abroad, you can still feel good for about three years. It's much better than being in North Korea. But those years fly by so fast.
Dina Templerest (1:24)
This is Kim Ji Min. He's a North Korean defector who used to live in Pyongyang. We asked someone to voice his answers for us in English. And once upon a time, not so long ago, he lived a secret life. He was part of a small army of young men trained in computers, sent abroad, and then forced to scam the world on behalf of the government. We don't hear from them often. They usually don't talk. But this week, in a matter of speaking, Kim did.
Kim Ji Min (1:53)
It's like the military, and each team has a leader. If someone can't do their job, that person is sent back to North Korea and substituted with someone new.
Dina Templerest (2:07)
And what Kim Ji Min makes clear is that the North Koreans who are hacking your inbox, pretending to be job applicants, uploading malware laced resumes and AI generated pictures to job sites are actually prisoners themselves.
Kim Ji Min (2:22)
The stress and isolation drove many to insanity.
Dina Templerest (2:30)
I'm Dina Templerest, and this is Click Here's Mic Drop, a deeper dive into one of our favorite interviews of the week.
Dina Templerest (2:43)
And today, a rare voice from inside the North Korean regiment. A man who was part of the Hermit Kingdom's massive cyber army and then left it behind. He declined to talk to us directly, but he did share his story with an NGO based in Seoul called PS Corps. And what it provides is a rare peek into the world of North Korea's cyber warriors. Not soldiers in uniform exactly. More like comrades in sweatpants, sharing Bunk beds, logging on, breaking in, getting paid, and watching their backs.