HAMBURG, Germany -- A Moscow businessman is supplying North Korean workers disguised as students to Russian companies via an online platform in a state-backed forced labor program, according to a Global Rights Compliance report released Thursday.

Operated by Vladimir Sokolov, KNDR.su provides North Koreans to Russian companies for a fee between 100,000 rubles and 150,000 rubles ($1,240-$1,860) for each worker, the nonprofit Netherlands-based law foundation found during a nine-month undercover investigation.

Investigators posing as company representatives were told they had to order at least 50 workers at a time, by Ruslan Zhukov, operations director of Sokolov's network. The North Koreans were sent to Russia as students to evade United Nations sanctions.

Sokolov was sanctioned by the European Union on Oct. 12, with all of his assets frozen, for his promotion of industrial cooperation projects with North Korea.

"The DPRK regime is formally authorizing the supply of North Korean workers to Russian businesses through Sokolov's network," the report said, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's formal name. Nikkei Asia emailed Sokolov at an address found on the website of his holding company, Black Horse, and Zhukov through the KNDR.su website.

Both did not reply by publication time. Zhukov did reply to Global Law Alliance, categorically denying all the claims in the report. The labor scheme meets acute needs in both countries, the report said.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is draining its workforce, with some estimates that around 1.5 million soldiers have been killed in the war. The country is also facing declining birth rates while sanctions have restricted the inflow of foreign workers. North Korea, in turn, earns hard currency from sending workers to Russia to fund its ballistic missile program.

The regime has been replacing outdated, liquid-fueled missile systems with a mobile, versatile force that is difficult to intercept. In early October, Pyongyang tested a tactical ballistic missile which it claims can be equipped with a nuclear warhead.

While South Korea and Japan estimated that the flight distance of the missile is approximately 700 kilometers, North Korea claimed it can reach 1,000 km. "The Russian aggression in Ukraine and the North Korean threats against South Korea and Japan are intrinsically linked, as they're trading technology, trading weapons, trading parts, trading scientists, with the labor program now binding their military industrial complexes and economies even closer," said Elise Lauriot Prevost, legal adviser at Global Rights Compliance, in an interview with Nikkei Asia.

"Our report shows that you can't take the developments in this world completely on their own, so people looking at the security situations of Europe and Asia-Pacific should adopt a holistic approach, including by swiftly aligning each other's sanction regimes against people like Sokolov," she said.

Global Rights Compliance said in its report that North Korean workers have been deployed overseas for over two decades, forced to work up to 18 hours per day, six to seven times a week, and to forfeit 80% to 90% of their income in what it calls "one of Pyongyang's most dependable sources of foreign currency."

It cited South Korean intelligence estimates that more than 50,000 North Korean laborers are present in Russia, generating between $450 million and $800 million for Pyongyang. Global Rights Compliance said KNDR.su requires Russian companies that want to use North Korean workers to be inspected by the North Korean Embassy to show they are eligible, citing this as proof of the state-sponsored nature of the arrangement.

Using facial recognition technology, the investigators identified advisers from the North Korean Embassy in Moscow, including General Adviser Kim Huyk, touring multiple factory sites across Russia.

The report identifies nine sites in Russia associated with North Korea through the Sokolov network.

Two of the sites publicized by Sokolov on his website are revealed to be connected to Russia's war economy, suggesting North Korean labor is directly fueling Russia's military machine. The report claims that North Korean officials including Kim Huyk visited KPP Ruskon, one of the largest producers of military rations and canned and preserved foods, in Moscow Oblast.

Footage on KNDR.su shows 30 North Korean workers also present at KPP Ruskon, but Global Rights Compliance investigators' estimate the actual total number is likely much higher.

North Korean officials were also documented visiting Agrisovgaz in Kaluga Oblast, a U.S.-sanctioned metalworking plant that counts sanctioned defense, aerospace and naval enterprises as clients, indicating deployment of forced labor within Russia's defense supply chain, the report said.

Lauriot Prevost admitted it is hard for the EU to enforce sanctions on Sokolov because Russia and North Korea have built a system to transfer money, without having to rely on international networks.

But she said the new report, which also relies on open-source information, provides verifiable evidence, such as company name changes, which could strengthen existing sanctions and equip authorities with deeper findings.

"We know they're infringing huge amounts of human rights, that they're contributing to the Russian military industrial complex, and that they're contributing to the North Korean military industrial complex, and that needs to stop," Lauriot Prevost said.

"By documenting violations now, we prepare evidence for potential use years later, ensuring that individuals like Sokolov face persistent obstacles and potential legal exposure when circumstances allow.

For the Russian-North Korean labor program, a figure like Sokolov is not quickly replicated, given the deep relationships and formal processes," she said.

Sokolov is also the founder and director of the Black Horse group of companies, which specializes in importing Chinese and European precision machinery. He also operates Black Horse Agro, which exports agricultural commodities to North Korea.

At a ministerial level, collaboration between Russia and North Korea is increasing. North Korean Education Minister Ri Yong-chol and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Kravtsov, met in Pyongyang on Oct. 19. They signed an agreement to establish and operate a Russian education center in North Korea under a partnership between Pyongyang University of Education No. 2 and Russia's Blagoveshchensk State Pedagogical University, according to North Korean state media.

North Korea's government in April 2025 confirmed its soldiers are fighting in support of Russia in the war against Ukraine. The Ukrainian government recently warned that this troop presence could expand to as many as 50,000 soldiers. Jens Kastner is a contributing writer.