News & Insights

Tag: Russia

  • Hundreds of N. Korean workers hired by Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries

    Hundreds of N. Korean workers hired by Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries

    Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, is thought to have hired hundreds of North Korean workers, Russian media outlets reported recently, despite the wide range of economic sanctions imposed by the international community.

    “Hundreds” of North Korean nationals have been hired by the company, the English- and Russian-language news outlet the Moscow Times reported, citing a report by media platform RTVI. Addressing the allegations, Wildberries acknowledged what it called a pilot project to hire foreign workers but did not elaborate on their nationalities.

    The claims stem from two videos of workers alleged to be North Koreans wearing Wildberries work apparel, which reportedly appeared in a group chat for employees of the retailer’s warehouse in the city of Elektrostal in Moscow Oblast, western Russia.

    Link to Article

    Link to Video

    Map Elektrostal, Moscow

  • Russia Turning to North Korea to Help with Labor Shortage

    Russia Turning to North Korea to Help with Labor Shortage

    Russia has been suffering from significant labor shortages in its civilian and defense industrial sectors since the start of its war with Ukraine. North Korean has sent several thousand workers to work in civilian sectors, but it is marginal and will not significantly alleviate Russia’s labor shortages. Russia reportedly has an estimated labor shortage of 1.5 million workers as of December 2024. We can expect many thousand more North Koreans to arrive and work in Russia.

    Link to Source

    In October last year, the NIS had said in a briefing that about 4,000 North Korean workers were already believed to be in Russia, with each worker being paid a monthly stipend of approximately $800.

    Russia may be recruiting North Korean workers to fill gaps in the construction industry created by its prolonged aggression against Ukraine, according to Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Wi Sung-lac, who was Seoul’s ambassador to Russia.

    “I think North Korean workers may have been recruited to make up for the labor shortages after many were drafted for the war,” Wi told The Korea Herald on Sunday.

    Link to Source

  • Russia and North Korea Building Bridge for Cars and Trucks, to be finished 2026

    Russia and North Korea Building Bridge for Cars and Trucks, to be finished 2026

    In a sign of increasing economic partnership between the two nations, construction of a Road Bridge has been planned, and a contract has been awarded to a contractor. The bridge is to be completed by the end of 2026.

    North Korea’s only land connection to Russia is a single rail bridge, so a road crossing is expected to increase trade and tourism once it is connected to a road network.

    A similar road bridge, the New Yalu, was built between North Korea and China about 10 years ago, but has yet to open because the Koreans have not built a road at their end. As a result, all traffic between the two countries must use the Sino–Korean Friendship Bridge, completed in 1943.

    Building a road bridge has been a recurring feature of Russian-Korean relations.

    https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/russia-awards-contract-to-build-first-road-bridge-to-north-korea

  • Record number of NK students coming to Russia from North Korea… Business visits ramping up

    Record number of NK students coming to Russia from North Korea… Business visits ramping up

    Overwhelmingly NKs come to Russia for education 7,887. These are record numbers of North Koreans studying abroad.

    Business numbers are beginning to ramp up with nearly 2000 business visits from NK to Russia. This, however is still far below the 2010’s when there were sustained levels of about 15,000 business visits from NK to Russia, per year.

    https://www.nknews.org/2025/02/north-korean-arrivals-to-russia-mark-12-fold-yearly-increase-in-2024

  • Russians Enter North Korea Primarily for Education and Business

    Russians Enter North Korea Primarily for Education and Business

    The number of Russian travelers entering North Korea reached a 12-year high of 6,469. Highest recent levels were 2012, with 8314 visitors.

    Tourism was number one, with almost 2,000 visitors, followed by 1,500 for business. 700 were for private reasons.

    https://www.nknews.org/2025/02/north-korean-arrivals-to-russia-mark-12-fold-yearly-increase-in-2024

  • North Korea’s top universities Develop New Connections with Russian Institutions for Student and Teaching Exchanges

    North Korea’s top universities Develop New Connections with Russian Institutions for Student and Teaching Exchanges

    DPRK delegations visited various Russian universities to discuss nuclear science, joint training and student exchanges

    North Korean educators inked multiple deals with universities all across Russia during a recent delegation visit, eyeing student exchanges and engineering technology, including in nuclear science.

    Delegations came from Kim Il Sung University (KISU) led by President Kim Sung Chan and Kim Chaek University of Technology (KCUT) led by President Pak Ji Min.  KCUT officials visited Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MPEI), touring departments related to energy, electrical infrastructure and atomic energy, according to a social media post from the Russian university.  The KISU delegation toured Moscow State University’s (MSU) Chemistry Department and Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) and its School of Medicine and Life Sciences, where the two sides discussed prospects for collaboration in medicine and scientific research. The department’s acting chief Sergey Karlov stressed that his university has “all the necessary resources to support joint research and educational programs for North Korean chemistry students,” according to a Telegram post from the Russian University.

    Previously, representatives of Blagoveschensk State Pedagogical University traveled to North Korea for Russian language workshops for 110 DPRK instructors in Pyongyang.

    The NK’s General Administration of Civil Aviation also attended an aviation exhibition in Russia. 

    https://www.nknews.org/2025/02/north-koreas-top-universities-forge-new-links-with-russian-institutions/?t=1738677276

    https://t.me/uvidenovmei/1197

  • North Korean special economic zone poised for revival in new Russia trade

    North Korean special economic zone poised for revival in new Russia trade

    “Rason, the oldest and largest of North Korea’s 29 economic development zones, has been central to the country’s push to attract foreign investment. It has one of North Korea’s first and biggest markets, was the site of the country’s first mobile network, and is the only place where North Korea legalised buying and selling homes in 2018, according to experts and North Korea’s government publications. Once a North Korean experiment in limited capitalism, the Rason Special Economic Zone appears to be the epicentre of the isolated country’s growing cooperation with Russia, experts say, including possible shipments of arms for the war in Ukraine.

    In recent months, there have been clear signs that the area is poised for a comeback, with ships docking there for the first time since 2018, and satellite imagery suggesting a spike in trade from both the port and a rail line to Russia.

    Although China – with its vastly larger economy and deeper historic ties with North Korea – might seem the obvious driver of a recovery in Rason, experts say the country’s deepening cooperation with Russia may make a more immediate impact.

    “Now that North Korea and Russia are becoming very close against the backdrop of the Ukraine war, Russia might send more tourists to North Korea, which can reinvigorate tourism (in Rason),” said Jeong Eunlee, a North Korea economy expert at South Korea’s government-run Korea Institute for National Unification.

    More at Reuters:
    https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korean-special-economic-zone-poised-revival-new-russia-trade-2023-11-29/

  • North Korean Soldier’s Notebook Reveals Anti-drone Tactics

    North Korean Soldier’s Notebook Reveals Anti-drone Tactics

    The Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (SSO) have released an image of a fallen North Korean soldier’s notebook that appears to show tactics for dealing with Ukrainian drones. Translated text from the notebook indicates that they have developed a three-man “human bait” tactic to lure in and destroy them.

    “In his notebook, Private Gyeong Hong Jong, before his fatal encounter with SSO operators, outlined tactics for downing UAVs and hiding from Ukrainian artillery,” they added.

    His notebook also included actions to take to avoid artillery barrages. “If caught in a strike zone, designate the next regrouping point (for the group), split into small groups, and exit the strike zone,” he wrote.

    “Another method: since artillery does not strike the same point repeatedly, hide in the spot of a previous impact and then leave the strike zone,” he wrote.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-korean-soldier-notebook-reveals-172315240.html

  • What we know about North Korean troops fighting Russia’s war

    What we know about North Korean troops fighting Russia’s war

    BBC: Pyongyang has sent at least 10,000 troops to Russia, according to Kyiv and Seoul, who have also said North Korean casualties have been rising since entering combat in early December.

    The tolls cited vary. South Korea said this week that more than 1,000 North Korean troops have been killed or wounded, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky put the number at 3,000.

    “What they lack in combat they make up for with what they can tolerate physically and mentally,” he adds.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2796pdm1lo

  • Tourism Opportunities in North Korea

    Tourism Opportunities in North Korea

     

    Koryo tours as well as Young Pioneers are the two main tourism organizations offering tours to North Korea. Most trips originate from either Vladivostok, or from Beijing. The tours are generally focused on Rason and Yanji, and Pyongyang and offer visits of factories, sea cucumber farms, and banking opportunities, Hae’an Park, Pipha Island, and even boat rides to see seals. Pyongyang tours include Pyongyang Grand Theatre, Kim Il Sung Square, Mt. Myohyang , Korean War Museum, Pohyon Temple, USS Pueblo, Manpok valley, Kaeson Funfair.

    One of the more interesting tours is the annual Pyongyang marathon, to be held this year on April 11, 2025. The marathon attracts people from all over the world, to participate in a 5K, 10K, half marathon, or full marathon through North Korea’s capital, and downtown sites.

    https://www.koreakonsult.com/program_2025_Apr_11_15_eng.html

    https://koryogroup.com/tours/dprk-north-korea/group

    https://www.youngpioneertours.com/north-korea-tours/