Kim Jong Un Reaps $22 Billion Windfall from Russian Alliance
North Korea amassed up to $22 billion in foreign revenue between 2022 and 2025, primarily by supplying arms and troops to Russia. North Korea provided up to 50% of Russia’s 122mm and 152mm artillery shell requirements and earned roughly $2,000 per month for each of the 16,000 to 22,000 soldiers it deployed to support Moscow. The financial windfall has fueled a rapid expansion of Pyongyang’s…
In the span of 2022 to 2025, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un amassed a staggering $22 billion in foreign revenue, primarily through the export of weapons and personnel to support Russia's ongoing conflict in Ukraine, according to Bloomberg. This substantial increase in income, nearly four times that of the previous four years, has granted Kim unprecedented financial clout despite stringent United Nations sanctions.
Andrei Lankov, a Korean studies expert, likened the arms sales to Russia to winning the lottery, emphasizing that Moscow's support from Beijing and Moscow has effectively shielded the regime. During Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, North Korea supplied up to 50% of its 122mm and 152mm artillery shell requirements, with Pyongyang boasting vast domestic stockpiles of Soviet-era artillery.
Additionally, Pyongyang earned significant revenue by dispatching between 16,000 and 22,000 military personnel to Russia, receiving an estimated $2,000 per soldier monthly. Some of these payments were made to the regime for fallen soldiers. The influx of Russian cash and commodities led to a 3.5% growth in the North Korean economy in 2025, the third consecutive year of economic expansion.
Kim has also diversified his revenue streams through illicit means, with state-backed North Korean hacking groups accounting for over 70% of global cryptocurrency thefts. These stolen funds are laundered through Chinese organized crime syndicates in exchange for offshore accounts. Russia has rapidly reinvested the cash into North Korea's military-industrial complex, aided by Russian technological transfers.
Pyongyang has accelerated its nuclear weapons program, unveiling two 5,000-metric-ton destroyers and significantly expanding its naval capabilities. According to Ukraine's Military Intelligence, Russia is preparing to station a North Korean missile unit in its western Voronezh region, equipped with six launchers and up to 120 ballistic missiles designed for strikes against Ukraine.
The unit comprises approximately 90 North Korean personnel. Furthermore, Russia resumed using North Korean missiles against Ukrainian civilian targets on July 30, destroying a residential home in Kryvyi Rih region.
Written by urgent.news from Kyiv Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
