North Koreans came to Russia almost 8,000 times to “study” in 2024. This is a five‑year record

The number of visits from North Korea was at its highest in 2024 since 2019 (earlier data are unavailable). With “education” topping the list, “business travel” was in second, with 3,098 border crossings. In pre‑COVID 2019, there were twice as many business trips, totalling 6,339.

Mediazonа first drew attention to the record numbers of North Korean “student” entries, when data on the third quarter of 2024 became available. This explosive growth cannot be explained by changes to educational programmes, as the number of applications to study at Russian universities has remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, in the autumn of 2024, news emerged that Russia had recruited soldiers from North Korea to participate in the war with Ukraine, specifically in the Kursk region. South Korean intelligence claimed that the DPRK lost about 300 people killed and 2,700 wounded in the fighting. The total number of North Korean troops on Russian territory was estimated at 12,000. More recently, sources of The New York Times and South Korean intelligence claimed DPRK fighters have been pulled out from the front lines.

The increase in the number of business trips started even earlier. According to Andrei Lankov, a Russian scholar of Asia and a specialist in Korean studies, this is due to “a large number of business trips.”