Significant chance of arrest and imprisonment for helping them would be my guess

It's essentially profiting from slave labor.

@asmith I do not think that is the primary concern here!!!!

@Ziddletwix I mean it seems kinda important

@TheAllMemeingEye maybe i don't understand what the comment above is referring to? bc otherwise i don't think it's the primary concern.

it is deeply sad that north koreans live under an authoritarian regime. i do not follow why we would assume that the lives of the "thousands of North Korean IT workers" (i.e. slave labor) would be any better or worse whether or not this scheme existed. if this scheme didn't exist, presumably they would be assigned (or end up doing) other similarly bad work for the regime? (tbh, i would guess the default alternative would be far worse!)

ignoring the utilitarian calculus, there is something to be said for not engaging in a system of oppression on any level, whether or not your engagement makes their lives any worse off. similar arguments can be worked through for e.g. sweatshops with bad conditions & etc.

i am much more persuaded that it is simply bad to do stuff that supports the NK regime. but note that's a separate concern—i don't think it really matters that much whether you profit from their workers, what's bad is that the NK regime is profiting (and in fact, that would be basically equally bad whether or not NK labor was involved in the arrangement, that's not the point here imo). or, to highlight what seems like the primary concern:

On top of the monthly wage, they would also raise funds for the North Korean regime by stealing valuable company information and threatening to leak it unless the employer made an extortion payment.

it is very bad (ethically, and for your own potential legal risk), to aid the north korean regime's corporate espionage so they can fund their regime! i think that concern goes far beyond whether your own personal profits are in some sense derived from workers in bad conditions.