Men to the Front, Women to the Factories: North Korea Dispatches Workers to Russia for Foreign Currency

▲ North Korean troops dispatched to Russia

Experts have pointed out that North Korea is dispatching large numbers of both men and women to high-risk areas in Russia to earn foreign currency, exposing them to the dangers of Ukrainian attacks.

Citing an analysis of Russian consular data, the U.S. daily The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 17th that 36,000 visas were issued to North Koreans last year, which is four times the level of the previous year.

While most were student visas, North Korea watchers explained that they were likely issued as a disguise to bypass UN Security Council sanctions that ban North Korean citizens from earning foreign currency.

According to a report by the Multinational Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), in which 11 countries including South Korea, the U.S., and Japan participate, 15,000 to 30,000 North Koreans are currently working in Russia and earning an average of 7,500 dollars (approx. 10.41 million won) per year.

Previously, North Korea deployed about 15,000 of its soldiers to the battlefields in Ukraine to strengthen ties with Russia.

Although the number of survivors has not been disclosed so far, hundreds of memorial gravestones for fallen soldiers were erected this March.

In addition to this, North Korean women are effectively being deployed to Russian factories facing labor shortages due to the war.

The problem is that the factories where they work are not safe areas amid the war between Russia and Ukraine.

This summer, about 20 logistics warehouses of Russia's Wildberries were attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), and at least nine people are known to have died as a result.

While Russia has not disclosed the nationalities of the deceased, the WSJ explained that North Korean women were working at at least one of these facilities.

Some residents are working at Russian drone factories, and North Korean laborers are also being utilized in simple labor sites such as caviar factories.

Peter Ward, a research fellow at the Sejong Institute, pointed out North Korea's current situation of putting its own citizens in danger to strengthen alliances and secure foreign currency earnings, stating, "Kim Jong Un's primary concern is not the life or death of the residents, but financial elements."

Chris Mundy, a professor at Dongseo University, also noted that despite the risk of Ukrainian attacks, the dispatches continue, saying, "(Dispatching workers to Russia) is a good money-maker for Kim Jong Un, and for the residents, it is an opportunity to leave North Korea."

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