Two Japanese men were referred to prosecutors Monday for allegedly providing their own identification data to assist an individual believed to be a North Korean IT worker in fraudulently obtaining freelance work online, investigative sources said.

The two men in their 30s have been charged with providing scans of their driver's licenses and bank account details in 2020 so that the IT worker could register on the freelance work site and accept work assignments in their names, the sources said.

Remuneration for the tasks are believed to have been received through the Japanese men's bank accounts and later remitted overseas, with police believing the revenue may have been generated for North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile development programs. The two men received about 10 percent of the revenue, the sources said.

A panel of experts from the U.N. Security Council, which monitors sanctions against North Korea, has reported that IT workers in the country obfuscate their identities to accept online work and earn income to funnel into the development of nuclear and ballistic missiles.

In March last year, the National Police Agency warned businesses and organizations in Japan that North Korean IT workers may be impersonating Japanese citizens to earn income through online work.

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