Report: N.Korean workers in Russia make military drones

A team monitoring how North Korea is evading sanctions says the number of laborers from that country working in Russia has sharply increased since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It says that some of these workers are engaged in manufacturing drones for military use.

The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team released a report last Wednesday. The team was established by 11 countries including Japan, the United States and South Korea.

The report said that as of the end of last year, an estimated 15,000 to 30,000 North Koreans were working in Russia.

It said the laborers include a contingent deployed in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, located in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, where they are involved in the production of military drones supplied to the Russian armed forces for use against Ukraine.

The report said the number increased after Russia amended a law in 2020 to allow student visa-holders to work, which resulted in the creation of a scheme to camouflage North Korean workers as students.

In an interview with NHK also last Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow. He said that North Korea has apparently sent 30,000 to 50,000 soldiers to Russia.