The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program, administered by the Diplomatic Security Service, has announced a reward offer of up to $5 million. The reward is intended for information leading to the disruption of financial mechanisms supporting certain activities in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Activities under scrutiny include money laundering that supports the Government of North Korea or any senior official or person acting on behalf of that government.
The Department is particularly interested in information about North Korean information technology (IT) workers using aliases Jiho Han, Chunji Jin, and Haoran Xu, along with their manager Zhonghua. These individuals are alleged to have engaged in a scheme enabling them to secure illicit telework employment with U.S. companies using false identities belonging to more than 60 real U.S. persons. This illicit scheme reportedly generated at least $6.8 million for the DPRK.
From October 2020 until October 2023, U.S. national Christina Chapman assisted Han, Jin, and Xu in obtaining work as remote software and applications developers with companies across various sectors and industries. They also attempted but failed to gain similar employment at two U.S. government agencies. These IT workers are believed to be linked to the DPRK’s Munitions Industry Department, which oversees the development of the DPRK’s ballistic missiles, weapons production, and research and development programs.
Chapman is said to have helped these North Korean IT workers acquire valid identities of real U.S. citizens. She reportedly received and hosted laptop computers issued by U.S. employers to make it appear that these overseas workers were located in the United States. Additionally, she allegedly assisted these workers in connecting remotely to the U.S. companies’ IT networks daily and helped launder proceeds from this scheme by receiving, processing, and distributing paychecks from the U.S. firms.
More information about this reward offer can be found on the Rewards for Justice website and on X (formerly known as Twitter) at https://twitter.com/RFJ_USA; https://twitter.com/RFJ_korean; and https://twitter.com/RFJ_mandarin. The Department encourages anyone with information on Jiho Han, Chunji Jin, Haoran Xu, Zhonghua, Christina Chapman, or associated individuals or entities to contact the Rewards for Justice office via its Tor-based tips-reporting channel.
The RFJ program is an effective national security tool administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service. Since its inception in 1984, the program has paid more than $250 million to over 125 people worldwide who provided information that helped prevent terrorism, bring terrorist leaders to justice, and resolve threats to U.S. national security. Of that amount, RFJ has paid rewards of $5 million each to two individuals whose information helped disrupt an illicit financial scheme benefiting the DPRK.
