Yanbian Silverstar and Volasys Silverstar 

About

Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information that leads to the disruption of financial mechanisms of persons engaged in certain activities that support North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, DPRK), including the exportation of workers from North Korea to generate revenue, money laundering, and specified cyber-activity and actions that support North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction proliferation. 

Rewards for Justice is seeking information on the following North Korean information technology (IT) workers, managers, and support staff associated with North Korean front companies Yanbian Silverstar Network Technology Co., Ltd., based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and Volasys Silverstar, based in Russia: 

1. Jong Song Hwa (정성화), CEO of both IT companies
2. Kim Ryu Song (김류성), president of Yanbian Silverstar
3. Ri Kyong Sik (리경식), president of Volasys Silver Star
4. Rim Un Chol (림은철), senior manager 
5. Kim Mu Rim (김무림), senior manager
6. Cho Chung Pom (조충범), mid-level manager
7. Hyon Chol Song (현철성), mid-level manager
8. Son Un Chol (손은철), mid-level manager
9. Sok Kwang Hyok (석광혁), mid-level manager
10. Choe Jong Yong (최정용), IT worker
11. Ko Chung Sok (고충석), IT worker
12. Kim Ye Won (김예원), IT worker
13. Jong Kyong Chol (정경철), IT worker
14. Jang Chol Myong (장철명), IT worker 

These individuals and companies generate revenue and launder it for the North Korean regime in violation of U.S. and international sanctions. 

Led by CEO Jong Song Hwa, Yanbian Silverstar and Volasys Silverstar workers steal, borrow, and purchase identities of U.S. persons to conceal their true identities. They then use these fraudulently acquired identities to  

• Gain remote employment with U.S. businesses and organizations;  
• Register domain names to host websites and dupe U.S. employers to thinking they have prior experience with reputable U.S. businesses; and  
• Create unauthorized money transfer accounts to take funds from U.S. employers and remit them to DPRK-controlled accounts at banks in the PRC.   

Jong and his associates conspire with non-North Korean facilitators who host laptops from which the IT workers remotely complete their software development work for unwitting employers.   

Yanbian Silverstar and Volasys Silverstar together employ more than 130 DPRK IT workers, who refer to themselves as “IT warriors.” These IT workers use the fraudulently acquired identities of hundreds of U.S. persons to gain remote employment and generate tens of millions of dollars which are laundered and sent back to the North Korean regime. 

Upon termination by U.S. companies, the IT workers have used their insider knowledge and coding skills to extort money by threatening to release sensitive information about their former employers online.  

The majority of these IT workers are subordinate to and working on behalf of entities involved in the DPRK’s UN-prohibited nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as its advanced conventional weapons development and trade sectors, including the DPRK’s Munitions Industry Department, Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry, the Ministry of Defense, and the Korean People’s Army.  

We encourage anyone with information on these individuals, Yanbian Silverstar, Volasys Silverstar, and associated individuals, entities, or activities to contact the Rewards for Justice office via its Tor-based tips-reporting channel at: he5dybnt7sr6cm32xt77pazmtm65flqy6irivtflruqfc5ep7eiodiad.onion (Tor browser required).