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North Korea’s Seventh General Bureau has launched a recruitment campaign to send soldiers for construction work in Russia, Daily NK has learned.
A source in North Korea told Daily NK recently that the initiative began following orders from the Central Committee on Feb. 4. “The Seventh General Bureau is working with Namgang Trading Company on this recruitment drive, which started Feb. 6 and will continue for four months,” the source said.
The program appears to address Russia’s construction worker shortage, a consequence of its ongoing war with Ukraine. According to the source, North Korean authorities approached Moscow in late 2024 with a proposal to send active-duty soldiers to Russian construction projects. Russian officials approved the plan in early February.
The bureau aims to select 1,000 soldiers who have served at least three years, organizing them into three groups of roughly 300 each. These units will primarily work at construction sites in Vladivostok, Saint Petersburg, and Novosibirsk.
“This initiative is part of the military’s broader effort to meet government foreign currency quotas,” the source explained. The bureau plans to recruit and train multiple groups of soldiers for deployment to Russian construction sites before June’s end….
North Korean leadership expects significant economic benefits. “Party officials anticipate a substantial increase in foreign currency earnings during the second half of this year if deployment proceeds as planned,” the source noted. “They see this military construction initiative as a milestone in North Korea-Russia economic cooperation.”
If the quality of construction meets the usual standards of North Korean workmanship, the citizens of Vladivostok, Saint Petersburg, and Novosibirsk may not be too enthused with the results.
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