North Korea has gained over US$20 billion from supporting Russia in Ukraine war

North Korea has earned over US$20 billion through its involvement in Russia's war against Ukraine.

Source: Newsweek, an American weekly news magazine, citing a report by the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses (KIDA)

Details: The majority of North Korea's economic gains came from supplying ammunition to Russia, though it also profited from sending thousands of troops to fight in Ukraine and providing technical support.

However, casualties were heavy, with around 4,000 of the 11,000 North Korean soldiers sent to fight, mostly in Russia's Kursk Oblast, reported dead.

The report says North Korea likely prefers "in-kind and technical assistance" from Russia in exchange for its support, including high-tech weapons that help bolster its military capabilities and advance its strategic goals.

KIDA's report is accompanied by a separate analysis from Reuters and the Open Source Centre (OSC), a UK-based non-profit specialising in open-source research on global security threats. The study revealed that North Korea sent over 15,800 containers of munitions to Russia between August 2023 and March 2025.

The OSC and Reuters used satellite and detailed three-dimensional imagery to estimate that 64 shipments by four Russian vessels likely carried between 4.2 million and 5.8 million individual munitions from North Korea.

Background: In July 2024, Russian coal exporters began supplying fuel to China via North Korea.

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