Most of the workers enter Russia posing as students to circumvent a UN Security Council resolution barring the hiring of North Korean citizens, according to the report. Russia's Foreign Ministry issued nearly 35,000 student visas to North Koreans in 2025, according to MSMT data. The Moscow Times, citing Russian Foreign Ministry data, put the figure at 36,400 visas — almost four times more than a year earlier.
MSMT data puts the average annual earnings of such a worker at about $7,500 — five times the income a North Korean could earn in China. That is why Russia is becoming an increasingly attractive destination for Pyongyang, the report says: as of the end of 2025, between 20,000 and 70,000 North Koreans were working in China, and between 15,000 and 30,000 in Russia.
North Korean authorities confiscate most of the money earned. In some cases the amount seized exceeded actual earnings, the report's authors write. MSMT estimates that North Korean workers abroad brought the regime of Kim Jong Un up to $800 million in total. According to the group, those funds financed the nuclear and missile programs North Korea is developing in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
North Korean authorities tightly control their workers' movements and contacts with foreigners. Those who try to flee face reprisals against relatives remaining in North Korea.
Citing Ukrainian intelligence, MSMT says about 12,000 North Koreans were working at Alabuga in November last year. One of the MSMT member states considers that estimate inflated. In August, the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Vadym Skibitsky, said about 8,500 North Korean military personnel were in Russia.
MSMT brings together 11 states, including the United States, South Korea, Germany and Japan. The group was created in October 2024 after Russia blocked the extension of the mandate of a UN expert panel that had spent 15 years preparing reports on Pyongyang's sanctions evasion. MSMT data is based on information from the intelligence services of member states.
Accounts differ: MSMT estimates the number of North Korean workers assembling drones in Russia at 25,000, while Ukrainian intelligence cited about 12,000 at Alabuga alone, and one member state of the group considers that estimate inflated. Russia's Foreign Ministry, according to The Moscow Times, reported 36,400 visas issued, while the MSMT report speaks of nearly 35,000 student visas.