North Korea has earned roughly half its GDP bankrolling Russia's war effort for three years
North Korea has earned roughly $13 billion — about half its annual GDP — over three years of supplying weapons and troops to Russia's war against Ukraine, Japan's Nikkei reported, citing a South Korean intelligence research institute.
According to the institute's findings, North Korea supplied Russia with artillery, ammunition, and other weapons worth several billion dollars, and delivered nearly 250 KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles.
Russia, in turn, paid more than $600 million over the past year — since fall 2024 — for the deployment of North Korean troops to the front. Approximately 10,000 North Korean soldiers remain in the combat zone, along with a similar number of engineers and several hundred drone operators.
Each North Korean soldier serving in the war earns roughly $2,000 per month. In the event of death, the soldier's family receives up to $10,000 and additional compensation, including an apartment in the capital, Pyongyang.
North Korea is reportedly preparing to send an additional 30,000 troops to Ukraine.
Estimates of North Korea's GDP vary widely — from $13 billion to $36 billion annually. U.N. statistics put the figure at $17.2 billion for 2024, while the Bank of Korea estimated it at 37 trillion won, or approximately $25.3 billion.
North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine
In fall 2024, Ukraine's Defense Intelligence reported that the first North Korean units — trained at military ranges in eastern Russia — had arrived in Kursk Oblast combat zone. At the time, DIU estimated the contingent at roughly 12,000 troops, including 500 officers.
By November 2025, South Korean outlet Yonhap reported that North Korea had sent approximately 5,000 additional troops to Russia "for infrastructure restoration." British intelligence reported in June 2025 that North Korean forces had suffered more than 6,000 casualties in fighting in Kursk Oblast.
More recently, DIU said North Korean troops in Kursk Oblast are regularly rotated and are conducting attacks on Ukrainian border localities using tube artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems, and aerial reconnaissance drones.
"Over the entire period since North Korean forces began participating in the war against Ukraine, approximately 300,000 soldiers have already returned to North Korea — trained and battle-hardened. Most of them are becoming military instructors to pass on the combat skills of 21st-century warfare to the entire North Korean army," DIU said.