The US has begun recruiting agents in North Korea, Iran and China through social media

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has launched a new campaign to recruit informants in China, Iran and North Korea.

The BBC writes about it.

On Wednesday, Oct. 2, the CIA posted a message on its social media accounts in Mandarin, Farsi, and Korean, explaining how to safely contact the organization. The message was posted on such platforms as X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Telegram and LinkedIn.

The guidelines advise users to contact the CIA through its official website, using secure encrypted virtual private networks (VPNs) or an anonymous web browser known as the Tor network, which is often used to access the dark web.

The last such action by the USA was aimed at the Russians — there they say that it was successful. And that is why the CIA wants to make sure that "people in other authoritarian regimes know that we are open to cooperation."

Meanwhile, an associate professor of international politics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul Mason Ritchie doubts how helpful such recruitment will be this time. After all, the majority of North Koreans do not have access to the Internet. Dr. Ritchie suggested that the US is targeting North Korean traders who cross the border into China unofficially and access VPN networks.

US intelligence considers North Korea, Iran and China to be "difficult targets" when it comes to intelligence gathering, given the strict level of surveillance all countries use to suppress dissent.

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