Thousands of North Korean ‘Students’ Enter Russia: Is Kim Sneaking Soldiers into Russia?

In the third quarter of this year, a record-breaking 5,263 North Koreans entered Russia, with most of them holding student visas. This surge has raised suspicions that North Korea may be using these visas to disguise the deployment of military personnel to assist Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to a report by NK News, a U.S.-based outlet specializing in North Korean affairs, the influx of North Koreans into Russia in the July-September period represents a significant increase compared to the previous quarter, which saw only 1,700 entries. This is the largest number since the fourth quarter of 2019 when over 6,000 North Koreans entered the country.

Among the North Koreans who entered Russia in the third quarter, 3,765 held student visas. This represents over a tenfold increase compared to the 332 student visa holders in the previous quarter. Observers suggest that this sudden student surge may be linked to North Korea’s military deployment in Russia.

A Russian researcher at Dongseo University, Chris Monday, told NK News that it’s generally “unheard of that thousands of North Korean students would study abroad,” suggesting that student visas could be another disguise for DPRK troop movements.

In fact, according to the Russian Ministry of Education, only about 130 North Korean students were enrolled in Russia as of April. When the FSB began tracking North Koreans entering Russia on student visas in 2019, noting that 258 North Korean students entered in the first quarter of 2020, but the number dropped to zero in the second quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the numbers have gradually increased, reaching 74 in the second quarter of last year.

Meanwhile, the number of North Korean troops deployed to assist Russia in the Ukraine war is estimated to be between 10,000 and 11,000. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed on November 7th that approximately 11,000 North Korean soldiers had been stationed in Russia’s western Kursk region, with some of them being deployed to combat, resulting in casualties.