The amount of North Korean citizens officially working in the Russian Federation from the start of 2015 is now 20 percent higher year on year, information from Russian media stated.
A total 47,364 North Koreans are at present working in Russia since the year began, an April 22 report from business daily RBK stated.
By nationality, only Chinese and Turkish workers exceed them in terms of numbers, at 80,662 and 54,730 respectively, the report said.
Those three countries also comprise a total 80 percent of the foreign workers in Russia, the report noted.
While North Korean workers within Russia are known largely for working in logging camps throughout Siberia, they are also working in plastering, the RBK report stated.
Demand for North Koreans plasterers have also taken up the majority of Russian work permits in that skill, at 9,026 out of a total 14,783, the report added.
A collapse in the ruble and sanctions over the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, as well as alleged involvement in Ukraine’s war between separatists and national forces, have prompted workers from other nations to depart Russia.
The country nonetheless remains an attractive option for North Korean laborers, where the average income for them in early 2014 was the equivalent of approximately $25-30 per month, Kookmin University’s Andrei Lankov wrote in NK News at that time.
Official salaries in North Korea are closer to $1.
Average salaries within Russia were 33,205 rubles ($645) per month in March, information from data-compilation company Trading Economics indicated.
Warming relations between Russia and North Korea over the past year in various fields have included a rise in quotas on citizens from the latter country, the report quoted one industry watcher as saying.
One recruitment advisor in Moscow declined to say if he thought that the amount of North Korean workers in Russia would increase over the next 12 months.
“It depends on the market,” the source told NK News.
The same source also pointed to the current difficult economic situation within Russia, for which the International Monetary Fund has forecast a 3 percent gross domestic product decline in 2015.
He noted, however, that North Korean workers are in high demand.
“They are very able-bodied and don’t come with bad habits,” the source added.
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Featured Image: North Korea: Daily life remains a struggle by EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection on 2012-10-29 15:20:27
