North Korean Workers Treated Like Slaves at Russian Drone Factory

A report says that up to 12,000 North Korean workers at a Russian drone factory are suffering serious human rights abuses and human trafficking. The North Korean regime is reportedly seizing up to 90% of their wages and using the money to earn foreign currency.
On the 20th local time, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) reported that a joint report released on the 14th by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., and the George W. Bush Institute said that large numbers of North Korean workers had been deployed to a drone factory in the Yelabuga Special Economic Zone in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan, where they were subjected to forced labor on a scale amounting to human trafficking.
The report analyzed that Russia, North Korea, China and Iran were colluding around the factory to establish a four-country drone production system.
The report said Russia was securing at least 5,500 drones a month for use in its war of aggression against Ukraine, while China was supplying key dual-use components, including batteries, internal electronic components, engines and navigation systems. Iran is providing Shahed drone technology to help Russia produce upgraded drones domestically, while North Korea is sending workers and earning large amounts of foreign currency, the report said.
Daniel Pinkston, a professor at Troy University, said, “The geographical positions of these four countries are interconnected, making any attempt by the international community to block or intervene impossible.”
The situation is a direct violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2397, adopted in December 2017. The resolution requires all UN member states to repatriate North Korean workers in their territories within two years.
Professor Song Yeong-chae, a scholar and human rights activist with the Global Coalition to Stop Genocide in North Korea, criticized the regime, saying, “The North Korean regime sells its citizens’ labor in the form of transactions between states, controls their departure and collects most of their wages,” and adding, “This is clearly forced labor and a form of modern-day slavery at the state level.”
Experts agreed that the international sanctions regime against North Korea had been effectively neutralized, as Russia and China, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, were completely ignoring sanctions on Pyongyang. A particular concern is that North Korea is acquiring drone technology and battlefield data—key elements of modern warfare—through its participation in this war and the dispatch of workers. DW reported that as North Korea advances its next-generation drone capabilities, they are expected to pose a serious threat to South Korea’s military defense systems.