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North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the Fortune 500

(www.yahoo.com)
145 points cwwc | 1 comments | 08 Apr 25 00:47 UTC | HN request time: 0.204s | source
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throwaway2037 ◴[08 Apr 25 03:58 UTC] No.43618229[source]▶
This part is genius:

    > Nowadays, Leggio told Fortune he won’t even set up an interview with a candidate who seems promising on paper unless they agree to one final step.

    “Say something negative about Kim Jong Un,” Leggio tells potential job candidates, referring to the third-generation authoritarian Supreme Leader of North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Through research, Leggio learned insulting the DPRK’s Supreme Leader is forbidden, and North Korean citizens could face serious punishment for showing anything less than reverence.

    “The first time I ever did it, the person started freaking out and cursing,” said Leggio.

    The job seeker subsequently blocked Leggio across all social media platforms. Now Leggio makes the same request before every single interview. Other startups and founders he knows are asking the same thing of job seekers, he said.
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jgilias ◴[08 Apr 25 04:22 UTC] No.43618332[source]▶
I don’t think that’s going to work for long. A typical defender/attacker dynamic at play.
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labster ◴[08 Apr 25 05:14 UTC] No.43618536[source]▶
Who is the attacker and who is the defender? Can the candidate be sure that the person asking that question isn’t secret police?
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1. pyrale ◴[08 Apr 25 06:17 UTC] No.43618837[source]▶
I believe gp’s point is that whether the recruiter is secret police doesn’t change much if NK decides to let its citizen do it in interviews.