The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), in a report cited by Bloomberg, estimated the number of DPRK citizens working in drone production in Russia at up to 25,000. According to the researchers, some of them work in the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan, where drones based on Iranian Shaheds are assembled.
The researchers write that North Koreans are registered under the guise of students in order to bypass international sanctions. Their average salary, according to the report, is about $7,500 a year, but most of that money is taken by the DPRK authorities, and in some cases the confiscations exceed the earnings.
The report also says that North Korean authorities strictly control the movements of their workers and their contacts with foreigners. Those who try to flee risk reprisals against relatives left behind in the DPRK.
The authors of the report believe that the labor cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang complements their military partnership, including arms supplies and the deployment of North Korean servicemen to Russia. The funds received, according to MSMT, go toward financing the DPRK’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and violate UN Security Council resolutions.
According to MSMT, by the end of 2025 there were 15,000 to 30,000 North Korean workers in Russia, and 20,000 to 70,000 in China. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that in 2025 the authorities issued more than 36,400 visas to DPRK citizens, nearly four times more than the year before; 35,800 of them were issued as student visas.
MSMT brings together 11 countries, including the United States, South Korea, and Japan. The group monitors compliance with restrictions against the DPRK and was created after Russia in 2024 blocked the extension of the mandate of the UN expert group, which had tracked sanctions and the development of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal for 15 years.
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