Russia plans to import 12,000 North Koreans to work in its massive Shahed drone plant, HUR says

Russia is running out of workers to build its Shahed-type deep-strike drones, and Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) says they're calling on North Korea for help.

HUR wrote that Russia plans to import 12,000 North Korean workers to make its drones by the end of the year, according to a Nov. 14 Telegram post.

The new workers are reportedly bound for Russia's Alabuga factory in Tatarstan, which produces the bulk of its domestic versions of the Iranian-designed Shahed drones, also called "Gerans" and "Gerberas."

According to HUR's report, the recent negotiations are between Russia and the Jihyang Technology Trade Company, which is a front company for Green Pine. Green Pine is the hub of North Korea's weapons trade, including ballistic missile exports, and has been under U.S. sanctions since 2010 for aiding North Korea's nuclear program.

Russia has actively recruited, hoodwinked and kidnapped workers for its war machine from across the developing world, particularly Africa and Central Asia. Interpol is investigating reports of human trafficking in Botswana.

But even pre-war, Russia has historically depended on imported labor, often termed "gostarbeitery," for hard labor, particularly in its Far East, where the Russian population is beset with low birth rates and substance abuse. North Korean workers are especially popular.

Hired via contracts that pay the North Korean government, Russia benefits from its neighbor's combined totalitarianism and poverty. A 2017 State Department report noted the "slave-like conditions" of North Korean workers living in labor camps, especially in logging. At the time they estimated 20,000 North Koreans came in annually.

Today, that labor flow is amplified by war. A Ukrainian general estimated 20,000 North Koreans working in Russian weapons factories as of the beginning of October. And North Korea remains the only national government outside of the Russian Federation known to have sent soldiers to fight against Ukrainians on Russia's behalf.

In return, Russia is teaching North Korea how to make modern weapons and fight a modern war.