Report Says North Koreans Funneled Into Forced Labour in Russia on Student Visas

North Korean workers are being recruited into forced labour in Russia through a broker network that relies on sham student enrolments, according to a months-long investigation by an international law foundation.

The report, published on Thursday by the Netherlands-based nonprofit Global Rights Compliance, says the network brings North Koreans into Russia on student visas. This allows it to sidestep United Nations sanctions and labour law, as part of a state-sponsored work programme that helps pay for Pyongyang's ballistic missile development.

The investigation centres on KNDR.su, a labour-brokering platform run by Russian businessman Vladimir Sokolov. It offers North Korean workers to Russian employers in agriculture, construction, industry and IT, and charges a commission of 100,000 to 150,000 roubles (about $1,240 to $1,860) for each placement.

Investigators posed as prospective employers and spoke with Sokolov's operations director, Ruslan Zhukov. According to the foundation, Zhukov said the workers were enrolled in colleges they did not attend "to avoid the application of labour law". He also described a schedule of 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Hosting North Korean workers is prohibited for UN member states under a 2017 Security Council resolution designed to cut off funds for Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile programmes. Even so, an 11-country team that monitors sanctions enforcement estimates that between 35,600 and 101,280 North Korean workers were based abroad in 2025, earning roughly $450m to $800m for the government. Russia issued more than 36,000 visas to North Koreans that year, four times the previous year's number, and almost all were officially for educational purposes.

Global Rights Compliance also said the network supports Russia's war effort in Ukraine, noting that Sokolov advertised at least two work sites linked to Moscow's military-industrial complex.

Sokolov and Zhukov did not respond to requests for comment sent to Sokolov's holding company, Black Horse, and to KNDR.su. The foundation said Zhukov rejected the allegations as "false, fabricated, and categorically rejected in their entirety". A statement attributed to him said the matter concerns only students of a specialised college sent to Russia under an intergovernmental agreement on exchanging experience and providing venues for educational and industrial practical training.

Lara Strangways, head of business and human rights at Global Rights Compliance, said the network reflects deepening ties between the two countries. "North Korean workers are being sent to Russian factories through a network that serves both states at once," she said, adding that their labour supports Russian industry while the revenue helps fund North Korea's military programme. She urged governments to recognise the role forced labour plays in sustaining the alliance.

Cooperation between the Cold War-era allies has expanded in recent years as Moscow has grown more isolated since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. They ratified a mutual defence treaty in 2024, and Pyongyang has sent thousands of soldiers to fight alongside Russian troops.