Train-Vehicle Collision in Russian Far East Leaves Six North Koreans Dead

A collision between a train and a van carrying North Korean nationals in Russia has reportedly resulted in the deaths of six North Koreans.

The U.S.-based North Korea-focused media outlet NK News reported this on the 27th (local time), citing Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

The accident occurred on the 25th in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the Russian Far East when a train struck a van transporting North Korean workers.

RIA Novosti reported that six of the seven North Korean nationals aboard the van were killed in the crash, and that an investigation into the incident is currently underway.

Local investigative authorities did not disclose the nationalities of the passengers killed in the crash, stating only that they were all foreigners.

A large number of North Korean laborers have flown into Russia in recent years, and they are known to commute to their workplaces in groups using buses that travel between regions.

According to the Multinational Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), comprising 11 countries including South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, 25,000 North Korean workers are employed at a drone factory within the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan, Russia.

Russia has been producing the Geran-2 drone—a modified version of Iran's Shahed drone—at this location and deploying it in the war with Ukraine.

(Photo: Korean Central News Agency, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.