Yelabuga Drone Factory: Report Says Up to 12,000 North Korean Workers May Face Forced Labor

DW reported on October 20 that a joint report released on October 14 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the George W. Bush Institute said a drone factory in Yelabuga, Tatarstan, Russia, may employ as many as 12,000 North Korean workers. The report said the workers face severe human rights abuses and human trafficking, while Russia can obtain more than 5,500 drones from the factory each month for use in the war against Ukraine.

North Korean workers have been incorporated into state-controlled overseas labor arrangements, and whether they can leave depends on a decision by the state. The report says North Korea profits by retaining as much as 90% of the workers' wages. The joint report defines this arrangement as forced labor: Pyongyang sells the labor of its citizens through interstate transactions, controls whether they can remain or leave, and collects most of their wages. The endpoint of this supply chain is the battlefield, while its starting point is a worker unable to decide freely whether to stay or leave.

The figures of 12,000 workers, 90% and 5,500 drones per month all come from the joint report and DW's reporting. The cited material provides no underlying data or on-the-ground evidence that can be independently verified, and the scale and specific practices remain to be confirmed. At the same time, the report places North Korean labor, Russian manufacturing and supply from China and Iran within the same drone supply chain: DW, citing the report, said China is a major supplier of dual-use components such as batteries, on-board electronic components, engines and navigation systems; Iran supplies Shahed drones to Russia, helping it produce the upgraded Geran model.

The available material does not establish that China or Iran participated in forced labor or deliberately evaded sanctions; roles in the supply chain cannot substitute for evidence of unlawful conduct. But this does not change the need to hold North Korea and Russia accountable: North Korea organized and controlled the overseas deployment of workers, while Russia integrated the controlled workforce into production for the war against Ukraine. The joint report says both disregarded United Nations Security Council Resolution 2397. Adopted in December 2017, the resolution required member states to repatriate North Korean workers within two years.

Dan Pinkston, a professor of international relations at Troy University's Seoul campus, told DW: "The Security Council's various resolutions on North Korean workers, weapons proliferation and the sale of dual-use technology have all been ignored, so I think it is fair to say that the UN sanctions system has essentially failed." This is not an official conclusion of a UN body, but it highlights the practical difficulties of enforcing sanctions: the overseas dispatch of workers, collection of wages, transfer of components and final production span multiple jurisdictions, meaning accountability must rely on cooperation among member states.

The joint report also noted that the Yelabuga special economic zone is home to several European companies and at least one U.S. company. It called on the U.S. State Department to work with other countries to disrupt human-trafficking networks, sanction those responsible and urge foreign companies operating in the zone to leave; it also called on the United Nations to conduct a multilateral investigation, document abuses and protect victims. The specific identities and responsibilities of these companies remain to be verified, and they cannot be labeled accomplices solely because they are "in the zone"; those that continue operating should at least explain their labor-use and supply-chain due diligence, sanctions screening and exit plans.

What truly needs to be traced is not just the workers' identities, but how their wages are skimmed, whether they can leave, how components enter the factory, where the products go, and who profits from every stage. Investigations must reach the governments and companies that wield enforcement power, have commercial interests and face costs of withdrawal, rather than once again shifting blame onto workers who cannot change the situation on their own. Until the figures above are further verified, any conclusion must remain qualified by uncertainty; but what Resolution 2397 failed to cut off was precisely the chain that turned ordinary people's labor into resources for war.