Russia Wants Female Workers, Too: Where Are North Korean Women Being Sent en Masse?

00:00 Intro
00:06 North Korean Female Workers in Russia… ‘8,000 Won per Hour’
01:08 China Used to Be the Top Destination… Is the Paradigm Shifting?
03:10 North Korea Grows Picky… Chinese Businessmen 'Pleading'
04:22 Will the Rush to Russia Continue?… Post-War Recovery 'Reserved'?

Hello. I am Kim Ayeong from the SBS Foreign Affairs and Security Team. Today (August 13), I brought a story about North Korea sending workers abroad.

1. North Korean Female Workers in Russia… '8,000 Won per Hour'
Women wearing matching red jackets step off a plane in single file. This time, a large group of women are gathered together, each carrying a large black bag known as an immigration bag along with backpacks. These scenes were released through the Russian media outlet Ostorozhno Novosti and the social media accounts of Ukrainian figures. The media outlet reported that North Korean female workers are being sent to various parts of Russia through employment agencies and are deployed in assembly production, food manufacturing, and the garment industry. Each team reportedly consists of 40 people. The minimum rate suggested by the agencies is about 480 rubles per hour, which is roughly 8,000 won in South Korean currency. Scenes presumed to show North Korean women heading to Russia or working there are frequently witnessed these days. Footage has even captured North Korean women arriving for work at the logistics warehouses of a major e-commerce company dubbed the Russian version of Coupang.

[The people here with us are workers from North Korea. They are replacing the local workforce.]

2. China Used to Be the Top Destination… Is the Paradigm Shifting?
They are not only working in the private sector. Last December, we reported that a drone factory in Tatarstan, located about 900 kilometers east of Moscow, was recruiting and actually employing North Korean female workers. Of course, this does not mean that North Korean workers were completely absent from Russia until now and are only just starting to go there. However, the phenomenon of North Korean female workers noticeably increasing in Russia is distinctively different from the past, making it worthy of attention.

[Jeong Eun-i, Senior Researcher, North Korea Research Division at the Korea Institute for National Unification: In the past, 90 percent of North Korean workers going to Russia were male. On the other hand, 90 percent of North Korean workers going to China were female. This was because Russia had demand specifically for logging and construction labor, while China had demand for clothing and processing-on-commission. (However,) recently, this distinction seems to be breaking down. (Russia) previously wanted only men, but now they want women too.]

This means that whereas China and Russia previously brought in labor from non-overlapping domains, the situation has now changed. Evaluations suggest that their relationship has shifted from a mutually complementary one to a competitive one over North Korean labor. So, which destination do North Korean workers prefer? Reports indicate a recent tendency to favor Russia over China. The reason, unsurprisingly, is money.

[Jeong Eun-i, Senior Researcher, North Korea Research Division at the Korea Institute for National Unification: When comparing China and Russia, Russia is a very cold region, making labor somewhat difficult. People say it is tough over there, but despite that, Russia pays about two to three times more wages.]

A pro-North Korea businessman in China shared that while requests for North Korean workers used to be fulfilled immediately in the past, there are now cases where workers stubbornly refuse to go when told to head to China. The businessman stated that while a North Korean worker's monthly salary in Russia is about 1,200 dollars, it is at most 300 to 500 dollars in China. Even considering remittances to authorities, the gap in absolute amounts is massive.

3. North Korea Grows Picky… Chinese Businessmen 'Pleading'
Whether in China or Russia, the work ethic of North Korean workers generally receives favorable evaluations. Labor costs remain relatively low compared to local workers, and their working hours are long. Additionally, because they live and move in groups, employers find them easy to manage. As North Korean female workers gain considerable popularity in Russia, the demands and attitudes of North Korean workers are said to be vastly different from the past. It was reported that North Korean workers dispatched to Russian livestock facilities demanded nutritional supplements when performing hazardous tasks such as sewage treatment, and separate allowances for night shifts. Similar changes are reportedly emerging not just in Russia, but also within China.

[Jeong Eun-i, Senior Researcher, North Korea Research Division at the Korea Institute for National Unification: The boss who recently hired North Korean workers was quite surprised, you could say. In the past, when there was overtime, allowances were not calculated all that strictly and weren't paid generously. But now, they want and demand that overtime allowances be calculated strictly on an hourly basis.]

Chinese-side businessmen explain that because workers are relatively reluctant to come, wages are gradually rising unlike before.

4. Will the Rush to Russia Continue?… Post-War Recovery 'Reserved'?
The key factor in whether North Korean workers can maintain their newfound leverage will likely be how long Russia's demand for North Korean workers persists. Some might wonder why Russia would bother accepting North Korean labor in the first place, but experts diagnose that Russia's domestic labor situation is exceptionally dire.

[Doo Jin-ho, Director of the Eurasia Center at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy: With the prolonged war overlapping with troop mobilizations and a declining population, Russia is facing a severe labor shortage. It is projected that about 1.9 million workers will be lacking in the manufacturing sector alone this year, and labor shortages are particularly acute in the transport and logistics sectors as well.]

The end of the war between Russia and Ukraine will not immediately resolve such labor shortages. Rather, another wave of demand will be added after the war ends, as places devastated by the war must be entirely rebuilt for post-war recovery. Coincidentally, large-scale construction projects are one of North Korea's strengths. This is why discussions are emerging that North Korea's experienced construction workforce could be deployed once post-war recovery projects get into full swing. In such a scenario, the proportion of male workers or soldiers with experience in the construction sector would likely be much larger, wouldn't it? We have discussed the dispatch of North Korean overseas workers so far, but fundamentally, sending workers abroad is a matter prohibited by United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea. However, both Russia and North Korea largely disregard these sanctions. Russia continuously needs labor, and North Korea needs sources of foreign currency. As the interests of both sides align, the exodus of North Korean workers to Russia and the off-field competition between China and Russia are likely to continue for the time being.

Reported by Kim Ayeong | Produced by Shin Hee-suk | Video by Kim Hye-joo | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.