A report reveals North Korea sends up to 100,000 workers abroad, mostly in China and Russia. Some are employed in Russian military drone factories, generating up to 25.8 billion baht in revenue in 2025.
On 16 Sep 2026, the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) released a report stating North Korea continues to send approximately 35,600-101,280 workers overseas, despite violating United Nations Security Council sanctions. Nearly all of these workers are in China and Russia.
The report indicates at least 17 countries are suspected of still accepting North Korean workers. These laborers generated about 450-800 million US dollars, or approximately 14.5-25.8 billion baht, in 2025. Part of this income supports North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs.
By late 2025, Russia hosted about 15,000-30,000 North Korean workers. Some were sent to military drone manufacturing plants and other Russian arms industry factories. Student visa programs were used to conceal the workers' true employment status. North Korean workers in Russia earned an average of roughly 7,500 US dollars, or about 240,000 baht, per person annually. In some sectors, monthly wages were up to five times higher than those of North Korean workers in China.
China is estimated to have the largest number of North Korean workers, between 20,000 and 70,000. Although around 10,000-20,000 workers were temporarily sent back to North Korea from 2023 to 2025, approximately 10,000 new workers entered China from January 2025 to January 2026.
The report states North Korean authorities tightly control workers' travel and outside contact to prevent defections. The MSMT calls on UN member states to take action against individuals and organizations violating sanctions and urges the Security Council to reestablish an expert panel to monitor North Korean sanctions compliance.
Source: Yonhap