North Korean Workers Promoted in Russian Online Job Ads, Deepening Bilateral Economic Ties

Amid deepening economic cooperation between North Korea and Russia, North Korean workers are reportedly becoming increasingly active in Russia's agricultural and manufacturing sectors, with online Russian job advertisements openly promoting them.

The British daily Financial Times (FT) reported this on October 28 (local time), citing a report by Global Rights Compliance (GRC), a foundation for international law based in The Hague, Netherlands.

GRC published the report the previous day after analyzing Russian corporate and procurement records, as well as advertisements, videos, and photos posted on social media, to investigate the close ties between North Korea and Russia.

According to the report, the Black Horse group, led by Moscow-based businessman Vladimir Sokolov, promoted North Korean workers to Russian companies through a website named KNDR.su.

The website advertised teams of 50 to 100 North Korean workers, describing them as working "28 days a month, 12 hours a day."

It also noted that North Korean workers "do not arrive late, do not drink alcohol, and do not fight."

Furthermore, the advertisements promoted that North Korean workers would not run away because the North Korean embassy controls their documents (such as passports), and specified a recruitment condition that they must be housed separately from workers of other nationalities.


According to the FT, the website originally used the name "North Korean Labor Corps" before changing its name to "North Korean Student Internships" in July and August.

Russia is known to use student visas to disguise workers' identities in order to evade sanctions.

Sokolov has been placed on European Union (EU) sanctions lists due to his commercial cooperation with North Korea.

Black Horse claimed on its website that it supplies machinery ordered by the Russian Ministry of Defense and exports agricultural products to North Korea.

The report also stated that agencies arranging the recruitment of North Korean workers pocket commissions of 100,000 to 150,000 rubles (approx. 1.65 million to 2.48 million won) per worker.

North Korean workers suffer from grueling shifts of up to 18 hours a day, 6 to 7 days a week, and surrender 90 percent of their earnings to the North Korean regime, according to the report.

It is estimated that the North Korean regime generates between $450 million and $800 million in revenue by dispatching workers overseas.

GRC analyzed that since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, bilateral relations have deepened as North Korea has provided weapons and troops to Russia, while Russia has reciprocated by providing trillions of won in cash and fuel to North Korea.

Lara Strangeways, head of business and human rights at GRC, pointed out, "North Korean labor is sustaining Russian industries related to the war in Ukraine, and the wages earned by North Korean workers are used to fund North Korea's military programs."

(Photo: Captured from GRC report, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.