A coalition of 19 government agencies across nine countries warned on Friday that North Korea is deploying IT workers under stolen identities to generate illicit revenue for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, Reuters reports.

The statement, signed by the US, South Korea, Japan, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and New Zealand, said Pyongyang uses artificial intelligence to expand its network of fraudulent remote workers who obtain employment on global freelancing platforms. The advisory warned that the workers pose escalating insider security threats, engaging in corporate data theft, cryptocurrency theft and espionage.

"North Korean IT workers employ increasingly sophisticated methods, including the integration of AI, to obfuscate their identities and expand their activities globally," the coalition said, urging hiring platforms and employers to strengthen identity verification. Operatives typically access company devices remotely through VPNs via "laptop farms" in North Korea, China, Russia and Southeast Asia, according to the advisory, Al Jazeera reports.