Weapons factory workers receive significant pay rise
Kim Jong-un tours a munitions plant in this KCNA photo from 2024. [Image / KCNA]
North Korea has significantly increased the salaries of workers in munitions factories in an apparent attempt to boost morale and raise production in its lucrative illegal arms trade with Russia.
The rise impacted employees in major weapons plants, such as those in Manpo and Kangye cities in Jagang Province, last September, according to a knowledgeable source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The claim could not be independently verified. But analysts say that it fits the regime’s focus on the arms trade with Russia. Although it has only recently fielded troops supporting Russia in the war with Ukraine, North Korean weaponry is said to have appeared on the battlefield shortly after the invasion in 2022.
Monthly salaries for general workers in the plants vary between 300,000 and 600,000 won, the source said. This range is equivalent to US$333 to US$666 by the official exchange rate. It may seem low by international standards, but considering that regular factory workers are paid around 50,000 won (US$50), the difference is significant.
Workers in auxiliary units such as factory security earn from 300,000 to 400,000 won, while onsite munitions workers and technicians get 400,000 to 600,000 won. More highly skilled workers, meanwhile, receive between 800,000 and 900,000 won.
General office workers reportedly receive between 800,000 and 1.3 million won, while technical office workers earn between 1.5 million and 1.8 million won. The source revealed that this is the highest level of wages since munitions factories were established in Jagang Province.
“Since the salary increase last year, wages have not been delayed once,” the source said, referring to the common experience of factory workers and office staff going unpaid for months on end. “Party organizations and labor unions are encouraging workers by saying, ‘We must repay the Great Leader with our diligent efforts and results.'”
“With the wage increases, concerns in the areas around the factories about feeding and supporting families have greatly decreased,” the source said. “Some residents are purchasing electronic devices like flat-screen televisions and computers, which they had wanted for a long time, thus improving their standard of living.”
The source said that while there has been no public information about the end user, it is assumed by workers that weapons, ammunition, and shells produced in the munitions factories are being sent to Russia, and the salaries are being paid with the money received in exchange.
The transfer of weapons by North Korea to Russia is considered illegal by the international community.
Kang is a reporter at NK Times, a Seoul-based media outlet focused on North Korean issues. He was born in 1978 in Chongjin and graduated from Chongjin 1st High School in North Korea. After 10 years of military service in the 4th Army Corps, he attended Chongjin Agricultural University before defecting.
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