An Air Koryo flight recently brought new workers, defense researchers, and students to Russia, highlighting the expanding exchanges between North Korea and Russia as the two nations grow closer.
According to several Daily NK sources in North Korea on Monday, an Air Koryo flight that left Pyongyang for Vladivostok on Mar. 18 carried various passengers, including defense researchers and technicians, overseas workers, students, university professors and tourists.
Less than 100 of the passengers were heading to Russia as laborers. There are currently thousands of new workers waiting in the North to head abroad after undergoing selection and training.
One of the sources told Daily NK that Pyongyang has de-prioritized sending laborers to Russia as the scope of cooperation and exchanges with Moscow grows.
Although North Korea earns considerable foreign currency by sending laborers abroad, even Pyongyang is beginning to feel that it does not need to rush to send such workers abroad – in violation of UN Security Council sanctions – as the country’s means of earning foreign currency are diversifying.
“Because they plan to continue sending workers, the North Korean authorities believe they don’t need to send many laborers at once,” the source added.
In an annual report released on Mar. 20, the Panel of Experts on UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea said about 100,000 North Korean workers were working in some 40 countries in restaurants, textiles, construction, medicine and IT, earning about USD 500 million a year for the regime.
The newly-departed workers will work at construction sites across Russia, including in Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Novosibirsk, Magadan, and Ussuriysk.
Passengers include weapons specialists and students
According to one of the sources, several of the North Koreans who left for Russia on Mar. 18 were defense science researchers and technicians involved in the development of strategic weapons such as nuclear weapons and missiles, some of whom work in the engine research laboratory under the Missile General Bureau.
The source said the Missile General Bureau researchers were sent to Russia to receive advanced rocket engine technology from that country.
In addition, some graduate students from Kim Jong Un National Defense University went to Russia for short-term research, and professors and students from other universities also left for the country. This suggests that academic exchanges between North Korea and Russia will accelerate as the two nations grow closer.
Meanwhile, an Air Koryo flight that returned from Russia to Pyongyang on Mar. 18 brought home North Korean laborers. Fewer than 50 workers returned, and all of them had been unable to work in Russia due to health and other problems.
One of the sources said the plane also carried food, electronic goods, medical supplies and other items in its cargo hold.
“Because it costs a lot to put a flight in the air, planes come and go full of either people or goods,” the source said. “The flight carried food such as flour, snacks and pasta. It also carried a lot of items such as printers, ink and computers.”
According to Vladivostok International Airport’s website, two Air Koryo flights between Pyongyang and Vladivostok made round trips 30 minutes apart on Mar. 18.
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March 26, 2024 at 12:30PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)