Joint statement of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) on the report covering the DPRK’s overseas labour program

The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), a coalition including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States, has released a new report regarding North Korean labor practices. The document details how the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) continues to bypass United Nations Security Council resolutions through the global deployment of overseas workers.

According to the report, between 35,600 and 101,280 North Korean laborers are currently active abroad, with the vast majority located in the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China. The MSMT notes that while UN Security Council resolutions 2375 and 2397 mandated the repatriation of these workers by 2019, at least 17 nations are suspected of continuing to host them. The report estimates that these labor programs could generate between $450 million and $800 million in 2025 to fund the DPRK’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development.

The findings highlight specific evasion tactics, such as the use of student visa schemes in Russia to disguise laborers. The report also notes that the DPRK confiscates the majority of wages earned by these workers, sometimes leaving laborers in debt to the state. In Russia, workers are reportedly involved in the manufacturing of military drones.

The MSMT released this report to address the monitoring void left by the dissolution of the UN Security Council’s 1718 Committee Panel of Experts following a Russian veto in early 2024. The participating nations are calling for the reestablishment of the Panel of Experts and are urging UN Member States to take domestic action to hold those facilitating these labor programs accountable.