Defying international sanctions, Russia is increasingly resorting to North Korean workers to build drones to be used against Ukraine, and this practice provides the Pyongyang regime with an essential source of income for financing its illegal armament programs, according to a report published by the United States and their allies, quoted by Bloomberg and Agerpres.
It is estimated that up to 25,000 North Koreans work in the Russian drone industry, including at facilities in Alabuga, Tatarstan, where unmanned aerial vehicles are assembled, according to a report published on September 16 by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team.
To circumvent sanctions, North Korean workers in Russia are included in a visa scheme for students.
Much higher salaries than they would earn in China
The report estimates that a North Korean worker in Russia earns, on average, an annual salary of 7,500 dollars, most of which is confiscated by Kim’s regime.
However, the monthly wages of North Koreans working in Russia can be up to five times higher than those they could earn in China, which makes Russia an increasingly profitable destination for the regime in Pyongyang.
The report estimates that North Korean workers abroad could have generated revenues of up to 800 million dollars for Kim Jong Un’s regime in 2025, providing funds for illegal nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, thus violating the resolutions of the UN Security Council.
This development underscores the way in which the increasingly close military ties between Russia and North Korea go beyond weaponry and troops, now encompassing labor force and industrial production as well.
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