The Donald Trump administration said the number of spies from adversaries such as North Korea, China and Russia arrested last year rose 35% from the previous year.
On the 17th of last month (local time), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel appeared on conservative commentator KT Miller's podcast and said, "Large-scale crackdowns and arrests are continuing in counterterrorism and counterintelligence."
Director-General Patel said, "In 2025, we arrested 35% more spies from foreign adversaries than in the previous year (2024)," adding, "They are from North Korea, Russia and China." It is considered unusual for the FBI director to mention the arrest of North Korean agents with specific figures.
However, Patel did not mention the total number of spies or the share by nationality, nor did he clarify whether those arrested were North Korean nationals or U.S. or third-country spies who worked for North Korea.
The United States believes North Korea is stealing internal information and committing cybercrimes by disguising its IT workers as overseas hires. The revenue from criminal activity is used for nuclear and missile development.
According to the United Nations Security Council Panel of Experts on sanctions against North Korea, North Korean IT workers with disguised employment are estimated to generate up to $600 million (about 870 billion won) in revenue annually. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said last year that North Korea-linked hacking groups stole about $2.02 billion in virtual assets.
Earlier, on the 8th of this month, the FBI issued a notice warning that the hacking group "Kimsuky," which is linked to North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau, is using a new hacking method via QR codes and that caution is advised.
According to the notice, hackers are attempting "quishing" (a portmanteau of QR code and phishing) by inserting malicious URLs into QR codes to steal information.