Often afraid to leave their homes for work, civilians are regularly extorted for money, too.

Last week, a federal court in St Louis indicted 14 North Koreans for allegedly being part of a long-running conspiracy aimed at extorting funds from US companies and funnelling money to Pyongyang's weapons programmes.

The older brother of Paul Pogba, former Manchester United midfielder, has been sentenced to a three year jail term, two years suspended, after being convicted of attempting to extort the French footballer.

Jay-Z responded by filing his own anonymous lawsuit against the attorney last month, accusing the lawyer of trying to extort a payout in return for not identifying him as a sexual abuser tied to Combs.

A federal court in St. Louis has indicted 14 North Koreans for allegedly being part of a long-running conspiracy aimed at extorting funds from US companies and funneling money to Pyongyang's weapons programmes.