According to South Korea's interview, many North Korean migrants entered the country based on student visas. This is partially confirmed by Russian statistics cited by The Wall Street Journal. According to this data, in 2024 the number of Koreans from North Korea, who entered Russia, increased 12 times compared to the previous year.
According to official Russian data, in 2024 around 8,600 student visas were issued to North Korea citizens. A year ago, the Ministry of Education of Russia announced that 130 citizens of this country studied at national universities.
Currently, migrants of earnings from the DPRK work mainly in the Far East, but it is expected that their workforce will soon be used in large Russian cities in other parts of Russia, including Moscow.
Employees from the DPRK are needed to supplement the shortage of workforce in Russia, which deepened because of the war in Ukraine. However, even a rapid influx of earning migrants from the DPRK is not able to supplement the existing working force deficit, although it can be significant support, writes WSJ.
Russian employers value employees from North Korea for their readiness for unconditional work for 12 hours a day for low salary. Before entering into force of the UN sanctions in 2019, Pyongyang sent tens of thousands of employees to Russia, who worked mainly at construction and forestry.
Continued article under video material
According to refugees from North Korea, The authorities of the DPRK took about 90 percent from such employees. salaries, leaving them only from $ 100 to $ 200. [377 do 754 zł]but even this amount was significant in a country where people earned only a few dollars a month. When at the end of 2019 the UN embargo entered into force, 30,000 were in Russia. residents of North Korea.
The director of the construction company in Moscow Andrey Orłow was one of those who, before the introduction of the UN ban, employed dozens of Koreans from North Korea through a North Korean broker. As WSJ writes, Orłow informed that he had recently met in Moscow with the same intermediary. They talked about employees for construction works. Orłow expects that he will receive 50 employees from North Korea in the near future. Until summer, their number will increase and exceed 300 people.
According to the UN report of March 2024 regarding Moscow's evasion of sanctions, Koreans in Russia work in about 120 companies.
Context: According to data from the South Korean intelligence, before sending workers, North Korea sent 15,000 soldiers to Russia, who played a significant role in the fighting in the Kurski region. About 600 of them were killed.
Last year, Vladimir Putin gave Kim Jong UNI two Aurus limousines, which is also a violation of the UN sanctions.
