North Korean workers flood into Russia amid deepening alliance with Putin

Laborers from North Korea are helping Russia tackle a major worker shortage as Moscow sidesteps U.N. sanctions and strengthens ties with Pyongyang.

Russia seeks more North Korean workers to address labor shortages across the country. Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA

By Anna Fadiah and Hayu Andini

In a striking sign of their growing alliance, North Korean workers in Russia are now playing a crucial role in helping President Vladimir Putin confront a deepening labor crisis, one exacerbated by demographic decline, wartime casualties, and emigration. These laborers—some entering on student visas—are reportedly working long hours for minimal pay while sidestepping international sanctions, as Russia and North Korea strengthen ties across multiple fronts, from the battlefield to construction sites.

Putin's labor shortage and North Korea's timely offer

One of Russia's most pressing internal challenges is a mounting workforce shortfall. According to the Russian Labor Ministry, the country faces a current gap of 1.5 million workers, a figure projected to grow to 2.4 million by 2030. This gap has been worsened by the Ukraine war, with hundreds of thousands of Russian casualties and a mass exodus of citizens seeking to avoid conscription or political repression.

Amid this crisis, North Korean laborers have emerged as a key solution. South Korea's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers this week that approximately 15,000 North Korean workers have been dispatched to Russia. Many are believed to have entered under the guise of student visas, helping them avoid detection by international watchdogs. Russian data show a 12-fold increase in North Korean arrivals in 2024 compared to the previous year.

Workers prized for discipline and low cost

North Korean workers are prized in Russia for their discipline, low wage demands, and readiness to work 12-hour shifts without protest. While many have been sent to Russia’s Far East, industry leaders and officials hope to bring more laborers to urban centers like Moscow to alleviate acute shortages in construction and manufacturing.

Despite a United Nations Security Council resolution banning the use of North Korean migrant labor due to human rights and nuclear proliferation concerns, Russia and North Korea have openly flouted this prohibition. Moscow has denied breaching sanctions, while simultaneously urging the U.N. to relax restrictions on Pyongyang.

President Putin, who recently described Russia’s friendship with North Korea as one “forged on the battlefield,” gifted Kim Jong Un a luxury limousine and visited Pyongyang last year, sealing a mutual defense pact that defies global diplomatic norms.

From soldiers to laborers: expanding North Korean support

Beyond labor, the North Korean workers in Russia narrative is intertwined with broader military cooperation. South Korean officials say North Korea dispatched 12,000 soldiers to support Russia’s efforts in Ukraine last year and sent another 3,000 this year following heavy Russian losses. These troops have played a critical role in Russia's southern campaigns, particularly in reclaiming territory from Ukrainian forces.

Moreover, North Korea has supplied weapons, including ballistic missiles, to Russia. Ukrainian officials claim that one such missile was responsible for killing 12 people and injuring nearly 90 in a late-April attack on Kyiv.

Trade between the two countries is also surging. Moscow has actively encouraged closer ties with Pyongyang in defiance of Western sanctions and isolation strategies. North Korea’s assistance, both military and civilian, has become vital to sustaining Russia’s war economy.

A return to historical labor flows

The influx of North Korean laborers is not a new phenomenon. For decades, Pyongyang sent tens of thousands of workers to Russia, particularly for construction and logging projects. Defectors report that the North Korean regime pockets over 90% of workers’ wages, though the remaining $100 to $200 monthly pay is considered significant in the cash-strapped country.

When the U.N. ban came into effect in 2019, about 30,000 North Koreans were forced to return home. Since then, Russia has relied on migrants from Central Asia to fill labor gaps. However, many employers still long for North Korean workers due to their reliability and lower wage expectations.

One such employer, Moscow construction company director Andrei Orlov, revealed that he recently struck a deal to bring in 50 North Korean workers after meeting a North Korean intermediary. Orlov, who had hired dozens of North Koreans before the U.N. restrictions, now hopes to employ more than 300 workers. “The more, the merrier,” he said, expressing hope that Russia and North Korea can bypass sanctions to formalize such arrangements.

North Koreans vital to Far East revival plans

The North Korean workforce in Russia is most visible in the country’s Far East, where Moscow’s grand plans to revive the region as an industrial hub have faced persistent obstacles. Putin has tried to reverse depopulation by offering free land, but the results have been limited.

Still, interest from Chinese investors and the presence of raw materials—timber, oil, and minerals—make the area a focal point for development. North Korean workers, who can be easily transported overland or by rail, are ideal for this push.

In 2024, local media reported that North Koreans were brought in to complete a delayed school construction project in the regional capital, citing a lack of available Russian workers.

Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin recently suggested that North Koreans could be enlisted to help rebuild war-ravaged areas in eastern Ukraine. He even stated that a single North Korean tile-layer can accomplish the work of two Russian workers.

Operating in legal gray zones

Despite the official ban, the pipeline of North Korean labor has resumed through legal loopholes and lax enforcement. Russia’s Education Ministry reported issuing 8,600 student visas to North Koreans in 2024. Yet only 130 of them were officially enrolled in university programs, raising suspicions about the real purpose of their presence.

Zane Han, a former North Korean construction worker who defected to South Korea in 2022, described paying bribes to North Korean officials to secure a spot on a work delegation. He operated on a student visa and stayed beyond the 2019 ban. Russian police, Han said, initially checked visas frequently but gradually lost interest.

“It became clear that the police weren’t interested in inspecting us anymore,” Han recalled.

Russia's quiet defiance of international norms

While Moscow insists it complies with U.N. sanctions, recent reports suggest otherwise. A March 2024 U.N. investigation found that at least 120 companies in Russia currently employ North Korean workers. Russian officials claimed many of these firms are inactive or outdated, but the pattern indicates a systematic effort to evade restrictions.

Russia’s deepening relationship with North Korea—cemented by arms transfers, diplomatic visits, and labor cooperation—shows how far Putin is willing to go to isolate his country from the West while forging a parallel network of authoritarian allies.

As long as the labor shortage persists and Kim’s regime remains willing to trade human capital for hard currency and political backing, the influx of North Korean workers in Russia is likely to continue.

And for employers like Orlov, and leaders like Putin and Kim, the deal seems mutually beneficial—even if it means openly challenging the international order.