Investigation reveals a broker network exploiting workers to fund North Korea’s missile programme and bolster Russia’s economy
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A nine-month undercover investigation has revealed how Russian businesses are using North Korean workers in a state-sponsored forced labour programme, with a broker network charging a commission of up to £1,350 per worker.
Global Rights Compliance’s latest report documents the details of a broker network run by Moscow businessman Vladimir Sokolov, which places North Korean labourers at Russian worksites where they are forced to work up to 18-hour days and forfeit up to 90 per cent of their income to the DPRK government. Evidence shows that the broker network relies upon restrictions of labourers’ movement and the threat of ‘serious consequences in their country’ for workers in breach of their contracts. Labourers are also subjected to brutal working conditions, the report states.
The investigation revealed how Sokolov runs an online platform called KNDR.su that markets North Korean workers to potential Russian employers. Sokolov was sanctioned by the EU on 12 October 2026 and has had all assets frozen for his promotion of industrial cooperation projects with the DPRK.
Investigators posed undercover as a prospective employer seeking to recruit North Korean workers, directly contacting the operations director of Sokolov’s network, Ruslan Zhukov. Zhukov confirmed that North Koreans had been working in Russia since 2025.
According to the investigation, North Korean workers are fictitiously enrolled in Russian colleges before being placed in practical training at host companies. Such a structure ensures student visas are given, avoiding formal labour contracts prohibited under UN sanctions.
In 2025, Russia issued 36,413 visas to North Koreans – around four times as many as 2024. More than 98 per cent of these were student visas. According to South Korean intelligence, more than 50,000 North Korean labourers are present in Russia.
Currently, overseas forced labour is estimated to generate between $450-800million for North Korea, channelled into the military-industrial complex sustaining the DRPK’s ballistic missile programme.
The investigation also found that KNDR.su requires Russian companies who want to use North Korean workers to undergo an inspection visit from the DPRK embassy as part of certification, confirming the state-sponsored nature of the arrangement.
The report confirms that DPRK officials visited KPP Ruskon, a producer of military rations and canned and preserved foods in Moscow Oblast. Footage confirms 30 North Korean workers were also present at KPP Ruskon, but Global Rights Compliance investigators estimate the true number is likely to be much higher as the broker network’s minimum order for labourers is 50 workers.
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DPRK officials were also documented visiting Agrisovgaz in Kaluga Oblast, a US-sanctioned metalworking plant.
‘In Russia, slave labour is not only commodified, it is available to customers in just a few clicks,’ said lead investigator at Global Rights Compliance Dylan Carter. Large brigades of North Korean workers, operating under the thin veil of educational exchanges, are openly advertised online and marketed as commodities. ‘They won’t run away’, their recruiters boldly claim, while gruelling shifts are presented as something North Koreans particularly enjoy.’
‘These workers do not come cheap, yet little, if any, of the money paid for their labour reaches them. Instead, it lines the pockets of the DPRK state.’
