Russia Recruiting 12,000 North Korean Workers For Shahed Drone Factory At $2.50 Per Hour

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Russia plans to import 12,000 North Korean workers to its primary drone manufacturing facility by the end of 2025, where they’ll assemble the Shahed attack drones pounding Ukrainian cities for just $2.50 per hour, according to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (HUR) announced that the workers will be deployed to the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan, Russia’s main production hub for Shahed/Geran-type long-range attack drones. The arrangement deepens military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang while giving North Korea access to advanced drone manufacturing techniques that threaten security on the Korean Peninsula.

Sanctioned Arms Dealer Behind Worker Recruitment

The labor recruitment negotiations took place in late October 2025 at Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, involving representatives from Jihyang Technology Trade Company, a North Korean state firm tasked with sourcing and selecting workers for overseas assignments.

However, Jihyang Technology Trade Company serves as a front company for Green Pine Associated Corporation, North Korea’s weapons trading hub. Green Pine has been under U.S. sanctions since 2010 for aiding North Korea’s nuclear program and is responsible for approximately half of all arms and related materiel exported by the DPRK.

“Russia is promising to pay workers from the DPRK around $2.50 per hour, with each shift lasting at least 12 hours,” HUR reported in its November 14 announcement.

Pattern Of Exploited Foreign Labor

The North Korean worker deployment represents the latest chapter in Russia’s systematic exploitation of foreign labor to sustain weapons production. The Alabuga facility has already been at the center of multiple labor trafficking scandals.

Just last week, DroneXL reported on a BBC investigation revealing how young African women were deceived into assembling Russian war drones. Women from South Sudan, Uganda, and other African nations were promised hospitality and logistics training but instead found themselves building weapons on 12-hour shifts.

In October, we covered how Russia lured African women to Alabuga with false job promises, with some influencers promoting the program to millions of followers before the scheme’s true nature was exposed. Interpol is currently investigating reports of human trafficking related to the Alabuga recruitment operation.

A 2017 U.S. State Department report noted the “slave-like conditions” of North Korean workers in Russian labor camps, particularly in logging operations. At that time, an estimated 20,000 North Koreans entered Russia annually under contracts that paid the North Korean government directly rather than the workers themselves.

From Soldiers To Factory Workers

North Korea’s involvement in Russia’s war effort has expanded rapidly. More than 11,000 North Korean troops are already deployed in Russia to help defend the Kursk region against Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian military intelligence estimated in October that approximately 20,000 North Koreans were already working in Russian weapons factories.

The addition of 12,000 more workers specifically for drone production signals Moscow’s determination to scale up its aerial assault capabilities while teaching Pyongyang valuable military technology.

Alabuga’s Massive Production Expansion

The Alabuga Special Economic Zone, located approximately 600 miles (966 kilometers) east of Moscow, has become Russia’s primary facility for manufacturing Iranian-designed Shahed-136 drones. The facility has scaled production dramatically—from roughly 4,500 drones annually to over 6,000 per month, representing a more than tenfold increase.

The site has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian forces. In April 2024, Ukrainian drones struck the facility, damaging buildings and exposing vulnerabilities in Russian air defenses. The attack hit dormitories housing foreign workers, highlighting the dangers faced by those brought to the weapons production site.

Russia aims to produce 3 to 4 million drones in 2025, according to industry estimates we reported in June. The Alabuga facility remains central to achieving those production targets.

DroneXL’s Take

This development represents something far more dangerous than simple labor exploitation—it’s technology transfer that will echo across continents for decades.

When we first covered the Alabuga recruitment scandal back in October 2024, the facility was producing roughly 4,500 drones annually. Now it’s churning out 6,000+ monthly. That’s the kind of industrial scale-up that requires institutional knowledge, manufacturing processes, and technical expertise that 12,000 North Korean workers will take home with them.

Unlike the African women who were deceived into coming to Alabuga, these North Korean workers are being sent deliberately by their government. They’re not victims stumbling into a trap—they’re state-sponsored industrial espionage dressed up as labor export. Every hour they spend on that assembly line, they’re learning techniques that will enable North Korea to mass-produce attack drones threatening South Korea, Japan, and U.S. forces in the Pacific.

The wages—$2.50 per hour for 12-hour shifts—tell you everything about Moscow and Pyongyang’s calculations. That’s roughly $30 per day, or $900 per month per worker. For 12,000 workers, Russia pays North Korea’s regime about $10.8 million monthly for labor that would cost exponentially more using Russian citizens. The North Korean government pockets most of that money while workers see a fraction, if anything.

Russia gets cheap labor to sustain weapons production while Western sanctions and casualties drain its workforce. North Korea gets hard currency, modern weapons technology, and combat experience through the troops already deployed. Both dictatorships benefit while Ukraine pays the price in nightly Shahed attacks on civilian infrastructure.

The pattern we’ve documented—from African women lured under false pretenses to systematically importing North Korean industrial labor—shows Russia’s war machine depends fundamentally on exploitation. The Alabuga facility has become a symbol of how authoritarian regimes collaborate to sustain aggression while evading accountability.

What makes this particularly galling is watching how Ukraine has become the global leader in drone innovation through ingenuity and democratic collaboration with Western partners, while Russia and North Korea resort to forced labor and technology theft. The contrast couldn’t be sharper.

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.