Up to 25,000 North Koreans working in Russia's drone industry, sanctions monitors say
Up to 25,000 North Koreans are believed to be working in Russia’s drone industry, including at facilities producing unmanned aircraft used in the war against Ukraine, according to an international sanctions monitoring group.
North Korean workers are employed at facilities including the Alabuga industrial complex in Russia’s Tatarstan region, where drones are assembled, the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team said in a report cited by Bloomberg.
The workers are brought into Russia under student visas in an apparent effort to circumvent international sanctions, according to the report.
A North Korean worker in Russia earns an average of about $7,500 a year, but most of the money is confiscated by the North Korean government. In some cases, the amount workers are required to surrender exceeds their actual earnings.
North Korean workers abroad are estimated to have generated up to $800 million for Kim Jong Un’s government in 2025. The monitoring group said the money provides Pyongyang with foreign currency that can help fund its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The report estimated that between 15,000 and 30,000 North Koreans were working in Russia at the end of 2025, while another 20,000 to 70,000 were working in China.
North Korean authorities tightly control workers’ movements and interactions with outsiders to prevent defections, the report said. Workers who escape also risk reprisals against family members remaining in North Korea.
The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team includes the United States, South Korea, Japan and eight other countries. It was established after Russia vetoed the renewal of a UN panel that had monitored sanctions against North Korea for 15 years.