Spy agency fumes as AI specialists head to foreign ministry

North Korea is shifting its top artificial intelligence (AI) experts from its main spy agency to the foreign ministry. The November 2026 reshuffle has sparked anger within the Reconnaissance Information General Bureau, which invested years in cultivating the young talents. The central authorities initiated the transfers in late October, according to a Daily NK source in Pyongyang.

The specialists are now working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Enemy Guidance Bureau, also known as Bureau 10. The Reconnaissance Information General Bureau is North Korea’s primary intelligence agency and oversees its cyber units, which have been involved in numerous cyberattacks and cryptocurrency thefts. The bureau took over the Reconnaissance General Bureau in 2025, after the country merged satellite, cyber, signals, and human intelligence under one agency.

Bureau 10 deals with South Korea-related matters for the foreign ministry under Kim Jong Un’s “two hostile states” policy. It absorbed elements of the United Front Department, a party body that previously managed relations with Seoul. The transferred young experts, in their 20s and 30s, joined the spy agency right after university.

They were identified as the agency’s finest talent and closely monitored as they developed. Many have become some of the country’s best technical minds. The foreign ministry has presented the moves as promotions and pay raises. In reality, it is acquiring the most promising AI specialists. The spy agency officials cannot openly protest, as the order came from the central leadership.

However, resentment is mounting, and murmurs of discontent are spreading through the bureau. "Many talented people are graduating from university right now," officials have complained. "Is it fair to take only the capable ones we developed for over five years who already deliver results?" Some of the specialists themselves welcomed the move and vied fiercely for a spot, hoping it would offer a once-in-a-lifetime chance to work abroad.

Others may have exaggerated their performance records or enlisted powerful relatives to secure their transfer. The bureau, already weakened by the loss of its talent, is now worried that the exodus could give the foreign ministry control over state cyber operations. They also fear losing a significant portion of that lucrative work to their rivals.

The dispute unfolds as North Korean hackers face heightened global scrutiny over cryptocurrency theft. The FBI recently linked Pyongyang to the $6.3 billion Binance hack. Kim previously established Research Center 227, a unit focused on AI-powered hacking, as part of North Korea’s expanding cyber arsenal and its increasing reach into foreign systems.

Despite the talent drain, the spy agency is rallying around a plan to train more new talent and reinforce the bureau’s past accomplishments. Their aim is to prevent the agency’s standing from deteriorating in the eyes of the central leadership.