9 North Korean workers in Russia defected to South Korea

North Korean men work at a construction site in Vladivostok, the Far East of Russia, in this Nov. 9, 2015, file photo. Nine North Korean workers dispatched to Russia as part of the regime's efforts to collect U.S. dollars recently defected to South Korea amid Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, according to an expert familiar with the issue Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han

Russia's war in Ukraine may have scared NK laborers into fleeing, says expert

By Jung Min-ho

Nine North Korean workers dispatched to Russia as part of the regime's efforts to collect U.S. dollars recently defected to South Korea amid Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, according to an expert familiar with the issue Wednesday.

The North Koreans, all male aged between 20s and 50s including two soldiers, arrived in the South last month and have been attending a three-month cultural adjustment program at Hanawon, a state-run facility for North Korean defectors, said Kang Dong-wan, a professor at Dong-A University in Busan and former director of the facility.

"The outbreak of Russia's war with Ukraine caused a stir (among the North Korean workers) and prompted them to decide to come to the South," Kang was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

Speaking to reporters, an official at the Ministry of Unification declined to comment on their status, saying it could impact their safety.

The North Koreans used to work as loggers and constructors in different regions and had no personal connections to the South before coming here, Kang added.

Their escape happened soon after media reports that North Korea was selecting workers for reconstruction efforts in Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine, which might have scared the escapees as they would be the first to be deployed to the regions where fighting is still intense.

A view of the city from a cemetery in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Jan. 24. EPA-Yonhap

In July, North Korea formally recognized the independence of two Russia-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine in a show of support for Moscow. Pyongyang has also reportedly supplied artillery shells to Russia through the Wagner Group, a private Russian military firm.

All this news has probably worried all the North Koreans living in Russia, Chung Eun-sook, a researcher of national security strategy at the Sejong Institute, a think tank, said.

"They are not the workers of the free world where they can decide what and where to do ― or don't do ― their work," Chung told The Korea Times. "Its recognition of the Russia-backed separatist regions and supply of weapons to Russia show desperation … For ordinary North Korean workers, they are frightening signs of what may come next."

Speaking to Izvestia, a Russian newspaper, Moscow's Ambassador to Pyongyang Alexander Matsegora mentioned the possibility of North Korean workers helping rebuild the war-torn infrastructure in the separatist regions.

There are believed to be more than 20,000 North Korean workers living in Russia, mostly employed at factories, farms and construction sites. Though international sanctions prohibit North Korea from sending workers overseas, the regime is known to have been able to do so by exploiting short-term student or traveler visas.

Will North Korea increase support for Russia's war as many workers fear? Chung thinks the possibility is not high. But it would certainly be higher if Russia was winning the war.

"How the war goes could affect North Korea's next move. I'm sure it is closely watching how it is going," she said.

(责任编辑：行业动态)