Russia has involved up to 25,000 North Koreans in drone assembly — report

Russia has involved up to 25,000 North Koreans in assembling drones — report

Russia has involved up to 25,000 North Korean citizens in assembling drones used in the war against Ukraine. This was reported by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), established by the US, Germany, South Korea, Japan, and other countries.

According to the data, Russia is increasingly actively mobilizing DPRK citizens for the production of military drones.

"Such cooperation provides Pyongyang with a significant source of income to fund its illegal weapons production programs," the report says.

Up to 25,000 North Korean citizens are working at enterprises located in the "Alabuga" special economic zone in Tatarstan. It is in this zone that Russia produces drones used in the war against Ukraine.

"North Korean workers enter Russia under the guise of students to bypass sanctions. Their average annual salary is $7,500," the report states.

According to the MSMT, this amount is five times higher than the income North Koreans can earn in China. Therefore, Russia is becoming an increasingly attractive country for them. At the end of 2025, between 20,000 and 70,000 North Koreans worked in China, and between 15,000 and 30,000 in Russia.

"A large part of the earned funds is confiscated by the DPRK authorities. In some cases, the amount collected by the government exceeded the income that was supposed to remain with the worker," the authors of the report write.

Thus, North Korean citizens working abroad brought up to $800 million in revenue to Kim Jong Un's government in 2025.

"These funds served to finance the nuclear and missile programs that the DPRK is developing in violation of UN Security Council resolutions," the MSMT emphasizes.

The group consists of 11 countries.

Before its establishment, in 2024, the relevant UN panel of experts was disbanded at the initiative of Russia. For 15 years, the panel had been preparing reports on Pyongyang's activities to bypass sanctions and develop nuclear weapons. The information published by the MSMT is based on data from the intelligence services of the member states.