They don't beat, don't rape and enter with a visa: Russian construction sites await migrants from the DPRK
Russians are being prepared for an influx of labor migrants from North Korea: by the end of the year, up to 50,000 Koreans could appear at construction sites. NI found out whether workers from the DPRK will be able to take jobs from Russians and what problems may arise after their arrival.
A flood of labor migrants from the DPRK may soon flood into Russia to replace soldiers: legislators and employers are actively preparing the ground for this.
At the real estate forum “Movement” , Pavel Belenets, assistant to the chairman of the board of directors of the development group Eskadra, predicted that by the end of 2025, up to 50 thousand citizens of the DPRK will be working at construction sites in the Russian Federation.
— From my experience, which we have gained in the process of working with different migrants, they are the best.
North Koreans are ready to work 12-16 hours a day with one day off. Photo: Sergei Karpushin. TASS
By “best” we mean the willingness of Koreans to work 12–16 hours a day with one day off.
Leonid Kalashnikov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, cited their participation in the North Korean Defense Forces as an argument for inviting North Koreans to work.
— In essence, (the Koreans. — Ed.) turned out to be one of the few allies who decided to lay down their lives for us.
The authorities are inspired by the participation of DPRK citizens in the SVO and are ready to invite them to civilian work in the Russian Federation. Photo: TASS. TASS
Tens of thousands of stubborn people, ready to work almost around the clock for a small salary, look like a serious threat to Russians who need both decent salaries and days off.
However, there are plenty of jobs in the Russian Federation that local residents do not occupy. According to Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin , the labor shortage in the construction sector is estimated at 200-400 thousand people. Come and work. But Russians are not satisfied with the working conditions that labor migrants agree to. And the latter, by the way, are becoming fewer and fewer.
In the construction sector in the Russian Federation, the labor shortage is estimated at 200–400 thousand people. Photo: 1MI
Due to tightened controls over illegal immigrants (last year their number increased by 40%) and requirements for knowledge of the Russian language, laws and history of Russia (now migrants must understand the history of Ancient Russia, know by heart the commanders of the Patriotic and Great Patriotic Wars, and children without knowledge of Russian are not accepted into schools), the number of immigrants from neighboring countries has decreased by 100 thousand people.
The number of migrants in the Russian Federation has decreased by 100 thousand people due to stricter control over illegal immigrants. Photo: 1MI
In total, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there are about 6.2 million foreigners registered in the Russian Federation. These are mainly labor migrants and their families, as well as students, relatives of Russian citizens and other small categories. The 50 thousand North Koreans in their midst should disappear unnoticed.
However, no particular influx of illegals from the DPRK is expected yet. Citizens of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have the right to freely enter Russia - for this they only need to have their passport with them.
The "future builders" said at the border that they came for tourism or to visit friends, and there are no problems. And then such a person can go and get a job illegally.
Control over North Koreans makes it virtually impossible for them to cross the border illegally. Photo: jennybento. Flickr
The situation with North Koreans is completely different. Now they need a visa to enter Russia, and they can't leave their country without the party's permission.
That is, control over their movement will be bilateral, from both the Russian and North Korean sides.
The process of hiring foreigners who have entered on a visa is also much more complicated for employers.
First, you need to post a vacancy on the "Work in Russia" portal, then you need to get a quota for the employment of a "visa" foreign worker (quotas for each industry are specified in the government decree ), then you need to get permission from the migration department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and pay a state fee of 12 thousand rubles. If the person is still abroad, then you need to send documents to the employee to obtain a Russian work visa.
Migrants from the DPRK, like others, must pass exams in Russian language and history. Photo: 1MI
Citizens of the DPRK must pass exams on knowledge of the Russian language, laws and history in order to obtain a work permit, just like all other migrants.
However, NI's interlocutors recall the "Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership" between Russia and the DPRK, ratified in 2025. At any time, the parties can sign an additional agreement to the treaty and simplify the procedure for employment of North Koreans in the Russian Federation.
Deputy Yaroslav Nilov , who was recently expelled from the LDPR party, believes that there should be no problems with North Korean migrants from the point of view of law-abidingness, due to their mentality.
— You have to understand their mentality, their culture. Have you heard of scandals related to Korean migrants beating up or raping someone? Here is your answer, if you analyze the information environment.
For residents of the western part of the Russian Federation, this may be a revelation, but Koreans have been working in our country for a long time. The first groups of workers arrived in the USSR in 1946 to work in the fishing industry and logging in the Far East. And a constant flow of workers was established after Leonid Brezhnev's meeting with Kim Il Sung in Vladivostok in 1966.
A steady stream of North Korean workers poured into the USSR back in the 1960s. Photo: Vasily Egorov. TASS
In the 1990s, workers from the DPRK came to Russia under an agreement on joint logging, and in 2007, an agreement was signed between the Russian Federation and the DPRK on temporary labor activity of citizens of one state on the territory of the other. As part of this agreement, Koreans undergo thorough training, including testing their moral stability and learning the Russian language. Otherwise, they will not be able to leave North Korea.
Andrei Lankov, a historian and professor at Kunming University in Seoul, notes that the flow of migrants from the DPRK has always been limited.
— The scale of the workers’ presence, in general, was approximately the same all this time: at the same time, let’s say, small tens of thousands of workers were on the territory of the USSR or Russia. The peak was apparently reached at certain moments in the late 1940s — at a level of about 50 thousand people. The minimum, it seems, occurred somewhere in the early 1960s, when there were only a few thousand workers. However, basically over these seven decades the figure fluctuates around 20–25 thousand people (plus or minus a little).
Migrants from the DPRK worked steadily in the USSR and continue to work in Russia. Photo: newizv.ru
According to the analytical center of the Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry "Observo", the number of labor migrants from North Korea in Russia in 2010-2017 amounted to 20 to 37 thousand people. In 2017, 53% of them worked in the Far East and Irkutsk region in the construction, logging, and fishing industries. Another 4 thousand workers (11% of all Koreans) were at construction sites in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region.
But everything changed in 2017, when the UN imposed new sanctions on the DPRK and banned other countries from accepting Korean workers. Russia, as a member of the Security Council, supported these restrictions, and mass deportations began.
In 2017, Russia began expelling North Korean workers due to UN sanctions. Photo: 1MI
However, in 2024, according to EMISS, 13,221 citizens of the DPRK arrived in the Russian Federation - 12 times more than in 2023. Of these, 7,901 crossed the border on a student visa. The rest declared tourism, business trips, private purposes, etc.
But the South Korean publication Yonhap, citing the National Intelligence Service, claims that most of these people went to earn money. There is no reliable information on how many people are actually studying, how many are working, and how many have arrived to participate in the SVO.
The only thing holding back the growth in the number of migrants from North Korea to Russia is UN sanctions. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov. TASS
In fact, UN sanctions are currently the main obstacle to increasing the number of Korean migrants in Russia, notes Leonid Kalashnikov.
— We cannot even formally cancel UN sanctions. These are the only sanctions that we recognize in Russia, if they are adopted by consensus, especially by the Security Council, that is, by us. But we must get out of this situation with dignity.
If the authorities "come out with dignity" and the doors are open for North Koreans, then the situation on the labor market will depend only on the current regulation of quotas. If they wish (for example, as a thank you to Kim Jong-un for help in the NWO), Koreans can compete with local residents in various industries, because they do not only work in construction.
At the same time, their presence will put pressure on wages in the Russian Federation, which will please the head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina very much. In her opinion , wage growth is one of the main causes of inflation. All that remains is to hope for the prudence of the government and legislators.
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