The US Department of Treasury today announced it sanctioned a North Korean organization and a North Korean national over sending workers from the country overseas to earn money for the country’s weapons programs. Separately, the US Department of State announced a planned symposium in San Francisco today on stopping North Korea from evading sanctions against the country by using the remote IT work industry.

“DPRK IT workers take advantage of the demand for specific IT skills, such as software mobile app and decentralized finance platform development, to obtain freelance employment contracts from clients around the world, including in North America, Europe and East Asia,” according to the State Department. “DPRK remote IT workers have also used the privileged access gained through these positions to enable malicious cyber operations.”

The workers may be subject to forced labor and constant surveillance by North Korean government security agents, according to the State Department. These IT workers have also been forced to work 12 to 16 hours per day — an indicator of forced labor and an abuse of human rights.

Expected to attend the symposium are government officials and private-sector experts from freelance work platforms, payment processors, IT staffing firms, social media firms and others. The symposium is being conducted jointly with South Korea.

Concerns over use of North Korean workers was also raised last year.

North Korea maintains a workforce of thousands of highly skilled IT workers around the world, primarily in China and Russia, the Treasury Department said. The workers can earn more than $300,000 per year.

“These workers deliberately obfuscate their identities, locations and nationalities, typically using fake personas, proxy accounts, stolen identities and falsified or forged documentation to apply for jobs at these companies,” according to the Treasury Department. “They target employers located in wealthier countries, utilizing a variety of mainstream and industry-specific freelance contracting, payment and social media and networking platforms.”

In addition, the department reported that sanctions were issued against Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Co. and North Korean national Kim Sang Man for supporting delegations of workers.