North Korea earns an estimated $43.8 million monthly — or $525.6 million yearly — through its troop deployment to Russia. The country has made an additional $6 million when condolence payments for soldiers killed in action are included.
A high-ranking Daily NK source in North Korea reported recently that North Korean troops deployed to Russia receive graduated salaries based on their rank through an agreement with Moscow. Commanders receive $5,000 monthly, technical specialists earn $3,500, non-commissioned officers make $3,000, and ordinary enlisted men get $2,800.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) determined that North Korea has dispatched about 15,000 troops. The source says about 2% hold command rank, 8% are technical specialists, 10% are non-commissioned officers, and 80% are ordinary enlisted men.
Based on these calculations, North Korea’s total monthly income reaches about $43.8 million thanks to its troop deployment. The 300 commanders make around $1.5 million, the 1,200 technical specialists earn $4.2 million, the 1,500 non-commissioned officers make around $4.5 million, and the 12,000 ordinary enlisted men earn around $33.6 million.
When extrapolated for the year, North Korea makes about $525.6 million annually through its troop deployment to Russia alone.
Death benefits add to revenue stream
North Korea also receives $6,000 to $10,000 in condolence money from Russia for every North Korean soldier killed in action. In a recent report to South Korea’s National Assembly, the NIS estimated that about 600 North Korean troops have died in combat. Based on this figure, North Korea has received at least $3.6 million and at most $6 million in condolence payments.
“The government calculates the life of one of its soldiers at a few thousand dollars, and even the condolence payments paid to fallen soldiers become part of the state’s finances,” the source said. “The lives of the people are just a means, while war is just an industry to generate foreign currency.
“Instead, the government treats the families of the fallen like state heroes, giving them priority for food and re-allotting them homes,” the source continued. “While informing provincial, city and county officials of this compensation scheme, the authorities ordered that they keep the plan strictly secret until all the soldiers return home.”
Payment structure focuses on strategic goods
Most of the income comes in goods rather than cash, including oil, diesel, wheat flour, industrial parts and military technology. In the initial dispatch, some payments came in dollars, but now Russia is replacing dollar payments with strategic goods that can be exchanged for Russian rubles, Chinese yuan or other commodities. Some of the money has also gone toward repaying loans from the time of Kim Il Sung.
Goods that North Korea has secured from Russia are managed by the Financial 1.8 Funds Directorate under the party’s Munitions Industry Department. They invest these resources intensively in modernizing the military, research and development under the Missile General Bureau, and bolstering the defense distribution network.
North Korea has exported weaponry at the same time, with major exports including 122-152mm shells, missile warheads, small arms and ammunition, flares, portable air defense weapons, jamming equipment and wireless gear, the source said. The exports also include some experimental weapons.
Troop deployment used to bolster leader’s image
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s personal inspection of military factories on June 7 can be seen as the leadership pushing for increased exports while maintaining a wartime production posture. “Factories that post good export numbers receive foreign currency incentives while their workers receive class promotions,” the source said.
North Korea employs a multi-layered laundering structure in its transactions with Russia, including third-country front companies, transhipments on the high seas and false-name contracts. Trading companies attached to the Reconnaissance General Bureau, Missile General Bureau and Ministry of External Economic Relations participate in this with tacit Russian approval, the source said.
North Korea earns more than economic benefits from the deployment — it has also used the situation to bolster Kim Jong Un’s domestic image.
“The authorities are promoting the deployment as the supreme leader leading a just war in an anti-imperialist front in unity with Russia,” the source said. “He is bolstering the prestige of the Paektu bloodline as a leader carrying on the anti-imperialist pedigree of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.”
