Russia taps North Korean workers to make drones under fake visas — SkimNews
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- Russia deploys up to 25,000 North Korean workers disguised as students to assemble military drones at facilities including Alabuga in Tatarstan, the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team said in a Sept 16 report.
- North Korean laborers abroad earned an estimated US$800 million for Kim Jong Un's regime in 2025, funding nuclear and ballistic missile programs in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
- Workers earn roughly US$7,500 annually in Russia with most wages confiscated by Pyongyang, but monthly pay runs up to five times higher than comparable jobs in China, where an estimated 20,000 to 70,000 compatriots also work.
- The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, an 11-nation group including the US, South Korea, and Japan, was formed after Russia's 2024 veto ended the UN panel's 15-year mandate tracking North Korean sanctions evasion.
- DPRK authorities exercise extreme control over laborers to prevent defections, with those who escape risking reprisals against family members remaining in North Korea.
Why it matters: Russia is solving its wartime drone-production labor shortage with up to 25,000 North Korean workers, while their confiscated wages — up to US$800 million in 2025 — directly bankroll Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. The arrangement extends a partnership beyond arms into industrial exploitation, eroding the sanctions architecture Moscow once helped build.
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