North Korea has earned up to $13 billion from Russia's war against Ukraine through arms supplies, troop deployments and related cooperation with Moscow, Nikkei Asia reported.
According to the publication, foreign exchange earnings and compensation in the form of energy supplies for the period of three years are approximately equal to the country's annual gross domestic product.
The arms supplies from Pyongyang to Moscow became known back in 2022, after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. After the signing of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between the two countries in 2024, which included military cooperation, relations expanded to include the deployment of North Korean military personnel to Russia.
According to estimates by a research institute at South Korea's National Intelligence Service, between 2022 and 2025, North Korea may have supplied Moscow with weapons worth between $7 billion and $13.8 billion. These include artillery, shells and about 250 short-range KN-23 ballistic missiles, the development of which may have involved Russian scientists.
Nikkei Asia also reports that Moscow is likely to have paid more than $600 million for the participation of North Korean troops in the war, including in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces entered in August 2024. According to the publication, Pyongyang may have also received assistance in the development and production of weapons, as well as supplies of essential goods.
The BBC recently estimated that North Korea's losses in the war could reach 2,300 soldiers.
The World Bank does not maintain an official estimate of North Korea's GDP due to the country's closed economy, with various estimates putting it between $12 billion and $26 billion. South Korea's central bank forecasts North Korea's economic growth of 3.7% in 2024 — the highest since 2016, when new sanctions were imposed on the country.