"Large-Scale Russian Drone Factory Could Also Be Built in North Korea... Raising Fears of a New Threat"

"North Korea Sends 12,000 Workers to Russian Factory"
"Russian Drone Factory Can Be Easily Replicated in North Korea"}

Yonhap News Agency

There are indications that North Korea has sent more than 10,000 workers to a Russian drone factory. The workers are expected to be able to produce drones in North Korea in the future, posing a new threat to the Korean Peninsula and the Asia-Pacific region.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. think tank, and the George W. Bush Institute released a joint report on October 14 titled "Human Rights Abuses in the Alabuga Drone Production Process: How China, Iran, and North Korea Support Russia's War Machine." The report examined cooperation among Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea in producing drones that Russia is deploying in its war against Ukraine. A discussion of the report was also held that day at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' headquarters in Washington, D.C.

According to the report, Russia recently established a large-scale drone factory in Alabuga, Tatarstan, about 900 kilometers from Moscow. Up to 12,000 North Korean workers have been sent to the factory. They are reportedly producing more than 5,500 drones a month using funds and parts brought in from China, Iranian design technology, and Russian capital. Citing reports from Ukrainian intelligence agencies, the report said, "North Korean workers earn about $2.50 an hour, and the North Korean regime takes between 70% and as much as 90% of that money," and strongly criticized the dispatch of North Korean workers as "a clear case of state-sponsored human trafficking."

There are also concerns that North Korea will soon acquire Russian drone technology, given the large number of workers it has sent. The report warned, "The technicians will return to Pyongyang with invaluable lessons from directly observing Iran's drones, which Russia has modified, and working on mass-production assembly lines." It added that "North Korea, with a more sophisticated and expanded drone program, will pose a new level of military challenge to South Korea, Japan, and U.S. forces deployed in the Indo-Pacific."

Victor Cha, the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a co-author of the report, also said at the discussion, "North Korea joined the war in Ukraine not only to gain material benefits, but also because it concluded that its military and munitions industry needed to make far greater advances in both the battlefield use and production of drones."

There were also warnings that a factory of this kind could be established inside North Korea. Tae Yong-ho, a former North Korean diplomat who defected and a former lawmaker from the People Power Party, participated in the discussion as a panelist. He stressed, "The fact that 12,000 North Korean workers are working at a Russian drone factory means North Korea could easily replicate the factory inside the country. I paid close attention to this report from a military perspective. South Korea should also focus on this."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.