Report Details Forced Labor of North Koreans at Russian Drone Facility

A new joint report alleges that up to 12,000 North Korean laborers at a Russian drone factory are victims of severe human rights violations and human trafficking.

Published on October 14 by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Dallas-based George W. Bush Institute, the analysis examines how Russia, North Korea, China, and Iran are collaborating to expand unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) production at the Yelabuga plant in Tatarstan, detailing what each nation stands to gain.

Moscow secures more than 5,500 drones monthly for its war in Ukraine, while China profits as the primary supplier of dual-use components such as batteries, internal electronics, engines, and navigation systems. Iran has provided Shahed drones, enabling Moscow to develop upgraded domestic variants known as the Geran.

North Korea, meanwhile, generates revenue by retaining up to 90% of the workers’ wages, the report states.

“The geographical proximity of these four countries… makes any form of international interdiction impossible,” Dan Pinkston, a professor of international relations at Troy University’s Seoul campus, told DW.

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Russia and North Korea Defy UN Resolutions

The joint report asserts that Russia and North Korea are violating United Nations Security Council Resolution 2397, adopted in December 2017, which mandates that all UN member states repatriate North Korean workers within two years.

“The North Korean regime… is selling the labor of its citizens under a state-to-state arrangement, controlling whether they may leave and collecting most of their wages,” the report notes. “This… is the definition of forced labor.”

Song Young-Chae, a Seoul-based academic and human rights activist with the Worldwide Coalition to Stop Genocide in North Korea, describes Pyongyang’s actions as “effectively conducting slavery of its own people and for its own profit.”

“This is a dire situation, and we know it is not confined to Yelabuga,” he told DW. “There are construction workers in occupied Ukrainian territories, North Koreans in lumber camps, and tens of thousands of soldiers deployed to fight—and die—on the front lines in Ukraine.”

“Life in North Korea is difficult, but these people are being sent to Russia as slaves, with no freedom, allowed to keep only a fraction of their earnings,” he said.

Addressing this “trade in humanity,” he admits, presents a formidable challenge.

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Limited Options for Accountability

“These countries share a border, facilitating the transport of workers, and no external agency can intervene,” Song said. “Russia and China are both permanent UN Security Council members yet are ignoring its resolutions. Realistically, very little can be done.”

Song’s organization is working to spotlight the workers’ plight and build a “coalition of like-minded nations and agencies” to protect them, though he remains “pessimistic.”

Pinkston echoes these concerns, warning of a powerful bloc “ripping up the post-World War II order based on the rule of law and human rights” and adopting a confrontational stance toward other nations. The weapons produced at Yelabuga, he said, further these objectives.

“UN Security Council resolutions on North Korean labor, weapons proliferation, and dual-use technology sales are all being ignored; the UN sanctions regime is effectively dead,” Pinkston added.

North Korea Advancing Its Drone Capabilities

Both Russia and Ukraine have gleaned critical insights into modern warfare, with drone technology representing one of the most significant advances, Pinkston observed.

“North Korea has been watching closely, ‘learning-by-doing’ and innovating its own drone capabilities,” he said, noting “serious implications” for the South Korean military as it counters a new generation of northern drones.

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To stem the flow of North Korean laborers to Russia and curb weapons proliferation, the report urges the U.S. State Department to coordinate with allies to disrupt human trafficking networks and sanction those responsible.

It also calls on the UN to launch a multilateral investigation into the Yelabuga complex, document abuses, ensure accountability for perpetrators, and protect victims. Additionally, the report presses foreign companies operating in the Yelabuga special economic zone—including several European firms and at least one U.S. company—to withdraw.

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