Chapman also helped the foreign fraudsters steal the identities of more than 70 US nationals, then use those identities to apply for remote IT jobs, according to the Feds.
Those who successfully obtained employment as part of the scam then received payroll checks at Chapman's home with direct deposits sent to her US bank accounts before ultimately being laundered and funneled to North Korea…
Also I just realised this is my second HN comment, last one was 11 years ago exactly today. 1/365 chance I guess. Not bad.
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/29/north_korea_worker_in...
… except for one thing.”
That would be very funny, but it would explain why Dell might use that logo, not why Gateway might, right?
Erm, no. Company is going to ship you a laptop and you are a NK spy. Where do they send it?
Surely no-one would conflate norks with norks. Please, no riffing on the sheer size of the Dear Leader's ... errm ... norks.
Now, how about "nack", "nark", "nick", "nock", "neck", "nerk" and "nuck"? I know they are all valid en_GB words, except nuck but I'll bet it is in use somewhere. Slap a k on the front for more fulsome larkery.
Hopefully that has cleared that up.
(edit: add some more n..k words and a note about a leading k)
And it's somewhat amusing in Australia, where "norks" is slang for "tits".
The new Microsoft authenticator app checks if the phone is rooted and checks for valid GPS and VPN connections before it'll allow access for example.
Why, that sounds suspiciously like a nascent slur. And - as my Aussie comrades will confirm - a dreadful slang collision.
Though not commonly used; though it does pop-up from time-to-time[2]
[1] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Norks
[2] https://www.nationalreview.com/the-feed/korean-war-ii-watch-...
Why not treason? Any lawyers know?
The same reason almost no one is ever charged with treason, given the plethora of other criminal charges available to anything that might remotely be similar to treason: Article III, Section 3 of the US Constitution: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.”
Even where the first part (in which, it should be noted, the terms involved are interpreted very narrowly) is not problematic, the “two witnesses" rule, which is applied independently to each fact necessary to sustain the conviction, is usually quite difficult to overcome, so its usually vastly easier to get a conviction for something else.
But this is not that. This is blatant treason.
The Korean war was never formally resolved, but the US hasn't declared war since WWII.
There's also no indication of adherence here.
Doing things that benefit a country and a leader that your government officically doesn't care for can be all shades of prohibited and illegal, but it's not treason.
These days, some vague tattoos will do it.
We didn't even charge Soviet spies with treason. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen
Brandeis wrote about how a lawbreaking government breeds contempt for the law and invites every man to be a lawbreaker by in 1928, but since then women have gained more rights: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1062178
> Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.
The last time we convicted someone for it was in 1949.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason_laws_in_the_United_Sta...
> The terms used in the definition derive from English legal tradition, specifically the Treason Act 1351. Levying war means the assembly of armed people to overthrow the government or to resist its laws. Enemies are subjects of a foreign government that is in open hostility with the United States.
You are right, of course, but it's not relevant to policy decisions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/us/texas-judge-trump-alie...
> He also found that the “plain ordinary meaning” of the act’s language, like “invasion” and “predatory incursion,” referred to an attack by “military forces” and did not line up with Mr. Trump’s claims about the activities of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang, in a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act.
Also mostly a 2024 story.
Related / connected Nashville case from last year:
US dismantles laptop farm used by undercover North Korean IT workers
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41356483
Also:
We found North Korean engineers in our application pile
Wonder what those companies are, any guesses?
https://www.justice.gov/archives/usao-dc/media/1352191/dl
> JOHN DOE 1, alias 한지호 Jiho HAN (HAN), was an individual residing overseas who opened accounts with a foreign money service transmitter (“MST”) that conducts U.S. dollar transactions through a branch in New York (hereinafter “MST-1”). HAN would then forward the funds to an individual in the People’s Republic of China (“China”). HAN also received funds from CHAPMAN for an overseas IT worker that CHAPMAN first deposited into one of her U.S. financial accounts.
> JOHN DOE 2, alias 浩然 徐 Haoran XU (XU), was an individual residing overseas who registered for financial accounts with U.S. MSTs. XU provided his name, date of birth, and a Chinese National ID to U.S. MSTs to register for these accounts.
> JOHN DOE 3, alias 春姬 金 Chunji JIN (JIN), was an individual residing overseas who registered for financial accounts with U.S. MSTs. JIN provided her name, date of birth, and a Chinese National ID to U.S. MSTs to register for these accounts
Aha so it's not just NK, China is involved as well. I would guess the Chinese govt is quite happy to look the other way here.
> On or about November 15, 2022, CHAPMAN messaged with an overseas IT worker using the screenname “Alexander The Great” (“AT”), wherein AT asked 21 CHAPMAN for assistance creating a background story for a stolen U.S. person identity, “Daniel B.” AT noted that the real Daniel B. had a criminal record and employers were asking for more information as to what offenses were committed. CHAPMAN provided a cover story and asked “What information do you know about Daniel B[.]?? Do you know his race?” AT responded that the real Daniel B. was “a black man” but that he (AT) was Asian. AT then gave CHAPMAN his “real full name,” which was a Chinese name
"Alexander the Great" - one can image a poor child, wanted to be a history major, but through an ugly twist of fate, they ended up as a hacker stealing identities and having to solve leet code puzzles with ChatGPT /s
Maybe some of them are just trying to make a living?
Maybe a lot of them are economically disadvantageous because, like with Cuba, the US has been f_cking with them non-stop for the last 75 years?
Maybe instead of assuming that every person inside a geographic area agrees to all the exact same things, we should normalize relations with North Korea?
The Cold War, like all other wars, is an idiot's errand, which has contributed to the entrenched hostilities that continue to dominate international relations.
Maybe world leaders should try "adulting"?
Since pretending to be a grown-up seems to be as close as anyone gets anymore...
No one in North Korea get to "just make a living" communicating with and working for foreign entities. This is a country that is so paranoid that every visitor to the country is required to stay with an official escort who will vet any contact you have with locals.
The only way that someone gets to communicate with a foreign entity is if they are employed, or closely managed, by the North Korean authorities.
Not that I support what this lady did, which was fraud and identity theft.
Maybe if they live near the border with China they can use antennas to get onto someone Chinese persons wifi network?