Cowboy State official drives out North Korean infiltrators behind deceptive businesses

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Communist North Korea has no rightful place in Wyoming, the state's Republican secretary of state said following the discovery of three business entities with ties to the hermit nation. 

"The communist, authoritarian Kim Jong Un regime has no place in Wyoming," Secretary of State Chuck Gray said in a statement this week. "Our office worked quickly and expeditiously to begin the administrative dissolution process. We have proposed several interim topics to the Joint Corporations, Elections, and Political Subdivisions committee of the Wyoming Legislature to take further administrative action against entities on the basis of their being owned or controlled by foreign adversaries."

Last week, the FBI announced it employed coordinated efforts to "disrupt the illicit revenue generation efforts of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea" related to IT workers. The Department of Justice said North Korea has sent thousands of highly-skilled tech workers to nations such as Russia and China in order to deceive international corporations and the U.S. into hiring the individuals as freelance IT workers. 

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Russian FMA Telegram Channel/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The IT workers are deployed to "generate revenue for its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs," the Justice Department explained in the press release. 

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"Today’s announcement reveals the complex web of deception and facilitators that is central to the North Korean regime’s schemes to evade international sanctions to finance its weapons program," said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division in a press release last week.

Republican Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray (Wyoming Secretary of State)

 "The disruptions announced today represent a focused and continuing effort to dismantle these illicit networks and thereby prevent North Korean IT workers from victimizing unwitting U.S. companies. Through such sustained campaigns against this threat, the Department will continue to enhance our collective national security and cybersecurity," he added. 

A sign along Belfry Highway, May 24, 2017, in Powell, Wyoming, on the border with Montana. (AP Photo/Robert Yoon)

In Wyoming, Gray dissolved three entities identified by the FBI as instruments of North Korea after the Business Division in Gray’s office further investigated. The entities were identified as Culture Box LLC, Next Nets LLC, and Blackish Tech LLC. 

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This photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it says is a rocket drill that simulates a nuclear counterattack against enemies, at an undisclosed location, April 22, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

A website connected to the fraudulent North Korea-backed businesses was "designed to entice potential victims, such as claims that the firms assisted hundreds of ‘happy clients’ including Fortune 500 companies (potentially a fictitious claim) and completed hundreds of projects over thousands of work hours," according to the DOJ’s press office.

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Gray told Fox News Digital on Thursday that he will "continue to advocate for the legislature to ban foreign land ownership." 

The announcement comes after North Korea last week launched suspected short-range ballistic missiles off its coast, which traveled about 185 miles before landing in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. South Korea called the launch "a clear provocation" that followed the U.S. and South Korea flying fighter jets in a joint drill.

North Korea has said it's been forced to boost its weapons programs to deal with U.S.-led hostilities. Experts have sounded the alarm that the hermit kingdom is taking advantage of ongoing wars in Israel and Ukraine to build stronger relationships with Beijing and Moscow. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervises artillery drills, March 7, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

"China and Russia trade with North Korea in open violation of international sanctions, well aware that they will face minimal consequences from the Biden administration and the international community. The deepened economic relationship undercuts the world’s ability to punish North Korea," Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., wrote in an op-ed published by Fox News Digital last week. 

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"With a padded wallet, Kim Jong Un is accomplishing two goals. Simultaneously, he is keeping his domestic situation stable and improving his military capabilities, which are now affecting people far beyond his borders." 

Fox News Digital's Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.