New Report Accuses North Korea of Using Overseas Workers to Finance Nuclear Program

A newly released report from a coalition of Western governments and United States allies indicates that North Korea utilized an overseas labor force to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for its nuclear weapons program last year. The findings, published by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), state that North Korean laborers working abroad raised between $US450 million and $US800 million. According to the document, these activities form part of a systemic evasion of United Nations sanctions by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and host nations utilizing an unlawful global network of overseas labor.

The MSMT report estimates that the total number of North Korean workers stationed abroad ranges from 35,000 to 101,000 individuals. While at least 17 countries are suspected of continuing to host these laborers, the vast majority are concentrated in Russia and China. Human rights organizations have long criticized Pyongyang's state-sponsored foreign work programs, asserting that participating workers are subjected to severe control, coercion, and abuse while generating vital hard currency for the authoritarian government.

The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team was established in 2024 by a group of developed nations after Russia used its United Nations Security Council veto to dismantle the previous UN panel of experts tasked with tracking sanctions compliance. The current MSMT coalition includes Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Regarding specific host nations, the report notes that China has historically denied hosting illegal workers from North Korea and reportedly expelled at least 10,000 workers between 2023 and 2025. Despite these denials, investigative reporters and human rights advocates have continued to document thousands of North Korean laborers operating within Chinese factories, plants, and fishing fleets. The MSMT estimates that China currently hosts between 20,000 and 70,000 of these workers.

Meanwhile, North Korea has been sending increasing numbers of laborers to Russia, a trend underscored by tightening military and strategic ties between Moscow and Pyongyang over the past three years. The report indicates that Russia has utilized student visa schemes to camouflage North Korean workers. By the end of 2025, the MSMT estimates there were between 15,000 and 30,000 North Korean laborers in Russia, with some manufacturing military drones on Russian soil to support Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Working conditions for these overseas laborers are severely exploitative, according to the MSMT findings. The report states that workers typically face low wages, endure shifts lasting 12 to 18 hours per day for six or seven days a week, and must forfeit 80 to 90 percent or more of their income directly to the DPRK government. Furthermore, laborers face additional charges of up to 30 percent on funds sent as family remittances, alongside fees for travel, food, and lodging, which the report notes can amount to complete wage confiscation.

Lara Strangways, a representative from the international human rights foundation Global Rights Compliance, described the findings as alarming and noted that they validate years of research by watchdog organizations. She stated that North Korean workers are funneled through Russian labor brokers into systems defined by debt bondage, document confiscation, and constant surveillance to generate hard currency for Pyongyang. Strangways emphasized that the expansion of state-sponsored forced labor requires urgent international intervention, calling for sanctions against the labor brokers and companies profiting from the arrangement.

While the governments behind the MSMT report have not announced any new sanctions targeting specific Russian or Chinese companies, their joint statement aims to alert the international community. The coalition encouraged all UN member states to raise awareness, deter the employment of North Korean overseas labor, and hold responsible parties and facilitators accountable for violations of UN Security Council resolutions through domestic action.