World · Europe · 1 hr ago
North Korean workers enter Russian firms disguised as students
A Moscow businessman is supplying North Korean workers to Russian companies through an online platform.
The workers are disguised as students.
The arrangement is described as part of a state-backed forced labor program.
It links North Korea’s labor force with Russian companies and Moscow’s war economy.
The scheme is also said to support North Korea’s missile development.
The information was made public in a report released by Global Rights Compliance on Thursday.
No next steps are stated.
A Russian network is sending North Korean workers to Russian companies on student visas, disguising them as students, a report by Global Rights Compliance says.
The rights group says the workers are hired under coercive conditions and that much of their pay goes to the North Korean state.
Some workers were hired at factories producing items used by Moscow in the Ukraine war, including a military rations factory, the report says.
The scheme violates UN sanctions that prohibit countries from hiring North Korean workers, according to the group.
A Russian figure contacted by the group denied the accusation.
- Who
- North Korean workers are supplied to Russian employers through a network involving Russian brokers and North Korean officials, according to Global Rights Compliance.
- What
- The workers enter Russia on student visas and are contracted to companies, where the report says they face forced labour conditions.
- When
- The report was released on Thursday, October 29, 2026. It does not state when the worker scheme began.
- Where
- Russia, including production sites and a military rations factory.
- Why
- The report says North Korea takes much of the workers’ wages, while Russian employers use their labour to support the country’s war economy.
Global Rights Compliance
Russian network figure who denied the accusation
Scheme’s nature
Global Rights Compliance
GRC says the network supplies North Korean workers under coercive conditions and in violation of UN sanctions.
Russian network figure who denied the accusation
The figure denied the accusation; the report does not give further details of his response.
A UN Security Council resolution imposed a blanket ban on hiring North Korean workers overseas and mandated their return home.
Global Rights Compliance released its report on the network supplying North Korean workers to Russian companies.
- Visa route
- Student visas, with workers presenting themselves as students
- Broker commission
- Up to 150,000 roubles per worker
- Work schedule
- 12-hour days and 2 days off each month
- Factory
- A military rations factory was among the production sites identified
- Report date
- October 29, 2026
2 sources
What people are saying
This investigation exposes a dangerous convergence between two states’ military ambitions
These workers do not come cheap, yet little, if any, of the money paid for their labour reaches them
Instead, it lines the pockets of the DPRK state