{"id":113146,"date":"2026-08-08T19:33:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/113146\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:33:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:33:40","slug":"north-koreas-kim-jong-un-gains-22-billion-windfall-despite-sanctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/113146\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea\u2019s Kim Jong Un Gains $22 Billion Windfall Despite Sanctions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trade records and satellite photos show how North Korea\u2019s dictator found new cash to fortify his nuclear arsenal. By Cat Barton<\/a>Soo-Hyang Choi<\/a>Heesu Lee<\/a>Adam Farrar (Bloomberg Economics) Graphics by Adrian Leung<\/a>Christopher Udemans<\/a> August 6, 2026 <\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s Kim Jong Un has more cash at his disposal than at any point during his 15 years in power.<\/p>\n

His family-run dictatorship raked in as much as $22 billion in foreign revenue from 2022 to 2025, according to a Bloomberg Economics analysis of government trade figures and intelligence, as well as external research on key sources of income generation.<\/p>\n

That historic haul is nearly quadruple the amount amassed in the previous four-year period, which came immediately after the US convinced China and Russia to sign off on United Nations sanctions aimed at depriving Kim of hard currency to advance his nuclear program. Since those restrictions were imposed, Kim has still managed to strengthen his nuclear deterrent, boost ties with key diplomatic partners and grow his sources of revenue.<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s Jackpot <\/p>\n

Foreign revenue soared after the war in Ukraine began in 2022<\/p>\n

Source: Bloomberg Economics<\/p>\n

Note: Figures represent the high end of Bloomberg Economics\u2019 estimates.<\/p>\n

Kim has done it all while eschewing the billions of dollars in foreign aid that helped sustain his father and grandfather \u2014 the only other men to have ever ruled North Korea. Pyongyang\u2019s skyline is being transformed by a construction spree, the capital\u2019s once-empty streets are teeming with privately owned Chinese vehicles and Kim has been showing off more sophisticated weapons, including two modern warships.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth Korea is in a stronger position than at any point in the last 35 years,\u201d said Andrei Lankov, a specialist in Korean studies and director of consultancy Korea Risk Group. Cash from selling arms to Russia has been like \u201cwinning the lottery,\u201d he added, while Chinese President Xi Jinping\u2019s renewed support is equivalent to a reliable \u201cpension.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Korea doesn\u2019t report economic data. Along with its partners, Kim\u2019s government takes steps to obfuscate illegal trade, meaning the revenue figures are estimates which may under or overestimate the gains. Many of the proceeds remain outside North Korea\u2019s borders as Kim is blocked from the international banking system, while other payments are believed to be made in goods and technology transfers.<\/p>\n

Either way, the numbers paint a stark picture of a regime that\u2019s moved beyond small-time sanctions evasion such as currency forgery and tobacco smuggling to embrace far more lucrative endeavors. The result is a richer North Korea with the potential to pose a much larger threat to the world.<\/p>\n

Source: Bloomberg Economics<\/p>\n

Note: Figures are nominal and represent the high end of Bloomberg Economics\u2019 estimates. Illicit coal is broken out into its own category after sanctions having previously been included in all exports. The \u201cothers\u201d category includes drugs, counterfeits, fishing rights and tourism.<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s economic boom marks a dramatic turnaround. Just seven years ago, the North Korean leader left a high-profile summit in Hanoi with Donald Trump humiliated, after failing to secure a deal to ease sweeping UN restrictions imposed to crush his nuclear program.<\/p>\n

The years that followed brought more pain. A devastating harvest triggered a domestic hunger crisis<\/a>, while a self-imposed Covid border lockdown cut off trade with North Korea\u2019s main partner, China, deepening Kim\u2019s diplomatic isolation. During a national address in 2020, the supreme leader shed tears while issuing a rare apology for failing to better navigate such economic struggles.<\/p>\n

The turning point came in 2022, when Vladimir Putin stunned the world by invading Ukraine \u2014 offering Kim an unlikely lifeline.<\/p>\n

As Moscow burned through munitions it turned to Pyongyang for a rare source of Soviet-era artillery. North Korea\u2019s domestic stockpiles suddenly became a valuable resource that Kim was able to convert into cash, food aid and advanced military technology.<\/p>\n

Russia Revenue <\/p>\n

More than 90% comes from arms sales<\/p>\n

Source: CSIS<\/p>\n

Note: Graphic shows high end of CSIS\u2019 estimates. \u201cOthers\u201d category includes tourism, labor and anti-tank guided missiles.<\/p>\n

By the end of 2025, North Korea had provided as much as 50% of Russia\u2019s needs for frequently used 122 mm and 152 mm ammunition, according to Ukrainian intelligence estimates. Kim backed up his supply of shells with soldiers, deploying between 16,000 and 22,000 troops in return for some $2,000 per month each, according to South Korean estimates and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.<\/p>\n

Thousands of those men have been slaughtered on the battlefield including many who committed suicide rather than face capture \u2014 with North Korea earning additional payouts for each death.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth Korea-Russia military cooperation is no longer merely a diplomatic or security issue,\u201d said South Korean opposition lawmaker Kang Daesik, who sits on the parliamentary defense committee and is briefed by the country\u2019s spy agency on Pyongyang\u2019s involvement in Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. \u201cIt has become a key source of income supporting the North Korean economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bank of Korea estimates its neighbor\u2019s economy grew 3.5% in 2025. That marked the country\u2019s third straight annual expansion, although growth was slightly weaker than in 2024, when North Korea clocked its strongest performance since sanctions were tightened.<\/p>\n

China appears to have taken notice, after years of cooling relations with Pyongyang over its deepening ties to Moscow. At a military parade in Beijing last September, Kim stood alongside Xi and Putin in a display of friendship between the nuclear-armed powers. Kim\u2019s teenage daughter, Ju Ae, joined him for the pomp and pageantry, signaling she\u2019s likely his successor.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In this photo provided by the North Korean government on March 20, Kim Jong Un and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, observe a military exercise in Pyongyang, North Korea. Source: KCNA\/UPI\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s improved fortunes appear to be trickling down to at least some parts of the country, which remains one of the world\u2019s most impoverished.<\/p>\n

Trade with China soared in June to its highest level since sanctions, with North Koreans importing<\/a> $1.2 million of sports and leisure goods alone. Ping pong balls, water skis, video games and sports equipment like treadmills were all brought over \u2014 luxury items likely<\/a> curbed by the UN sanctions. New homes are rising across the country on a monthly basis, according to state media reports.<\/p>\n

North Koreans in the capital are now able to use digital apps \u2014 on a ring-fenced domestic intranet \u2014 to buy food or order taxis, said Rowan Beard of Young Pioneer Tours, who has visited Pyongyang multiple times since 2012 including most recently in May. \u201cThe increase in smartphone use has been striking,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s Biggest Cities Are Getting Brighter at Night <\/p>\n

Key ports and trade hubs are using more electricity<\/p>\n

Sources: NASA; European Space Agency; Planet Labs<\/p>\n

North Korea has \u201cnever looked this strong,\u201d said Joanna Hosaniak, deputy director general at the Seoul-based Citizens\u2019 Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, who has researched the country for two decades. One key metric she highlighted was a glut of ships observed at Nampho port, the country\u2019s main maritime gateway.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in 2016 when there was a record of coal exports for North Korea \u2014 22 million tons \u2014 not as many ships were as present as there are right now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kim has plowed the influx of capital into a breakneck nuclear build-up that\u2019s put him on track to rival France\u2019s stockpile<\/a> in the next decade. North Korea has repeatedly said such weapons protect the nation against any attack by the US, citing Iraq, Libya and others as cautionary tales<\/a>.<\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s rulers have traditionally prioritized nuclear development, leaving its conventional forces stuck at a technological level dating back to the Soviet Era. That appears to be changing, too.<\/p>\n

The country has unveiled two 5,000-ton destroyers \u2014 its largest warships ever \u2014 over the past two years, indicating a significant leap hard to imagine a few years ago. At least one of those vessels is armed with what appears to be the Russian Pantsir-M air defense system, worth around $20 million and considered more advanced than any short-range system known to be domestically produced.<\/p>\n

Kim Jong Un with sailors during the commissioning ceremony of North Korean destroyer Choe Hyon in Nampho, North Korea on June 23. Source: KRT\/AP<\/p>\n

Russian technology transfers have enabled North Korea to \u201ccompress its weapon development timelines,\u201d an official with the United States Forces Korea, which oversees US troops stationed in the south, said in response to written questions.<\/p>\n

Russia and North Korea, which share a tiny 17-kilometer (11-mile) land border, have also been producing strike UAVs, which could \u201ccreate additional long-term risks for security in the region,\u201d said Vladyslav Vlasiuk, sanctions envoy for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n

Ballistic missiles from Pyongyang used in the battlefield are \u201cnot simple copies of the Russian Iskander complex,\u201d added Vlasiuk. \u201cNorth Korea significantly improved the design and created its own modifications with characteristic technical features.\u201d<\/p>\n

That opens the door to Kim finding another revenue stream: weapons customers beyond Moscow.<\/p>\n

WATCH Why North Korea\u2019s Economy Is Suddenly Booming. North Korea raked in as much as $22 billion in foreign earnings over the last few years despite global sanctions. How is Kim Jong Un doing it, and why is a richer North Korea potentially more dangerous?<\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s economic fortunes hinge heavily on Russia\u2019s appetite for war, but that\u2019s not its sole source of growing revenue. Over the past decade, Kim has assembled the world\u2019s most prolific army of crypto thieves helping to diversify his earnings. Hacking groups tied to Pyongyang now account for more than 70% of global cryptocurrency thefts \u2014 up from roughly 30% in 2017, according to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs.<\/p>\n

The stolen funds are mostly laundered by Chinese organized crime units that take a cut in return for clean offshore bank accounts denominated in yuan or dollars, said Nick Carlsen, a senior investigator with TRM Labs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absurd to think North Korea now has access to that much money,\u201d he said, suggesting the US should consider allowing modern-day bounty hunting to cut down on crypto heists.<\/p>\n

Kim also appears to be networking more to reduce his diplomatic dependence on Russia, with dignitaries from Singapore, Indonesia, Belarus and Vietnam all visiting Pyongyang over the past year.<\/p>\n

Once viewed by the Western world as the erratic dictator of a hermit country, Kim is emerging as a resilient leader of a growing nuclear power.<\/p>\n

North Korea no longer has any urgent need to negotiate with the US or South Korea, especially on its prized nuclear weapons, said Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center and a prominent North Korea watcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cPyongyang has proven its ability to adapt to persistent sanctions,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd as international law and norms are eroding, it has found camaraderie in its resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edited by Jenni Marsh<\/a>Silva ShihPaul Jackson<\/a> Photos edited by Maria Wood<\/a> With assistance from Fran Wang<\/a>Olesia Safronova<\/a>Jin Wu<\/a> <\/p>\n

Lede photo illustration: Adrian Leung; Photos: Getty (3), Bloomberg (2)
Additional photography: Ed Jones\/AFP\/Getty Images; Saul Loeb\/AFP\/Getty Images, Anthony Wallace\/AFP\/Getty Images; Erin Trieb\/Bloomberg; Kristina Kormilitsyna\/POOL\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Assessments of North Korean revenue generation are subject to significant uncertainty because the DPRK does not publish comprehensive, reliable, or independently verifiable economic and financial data. Available figures rely heavily on estimates produced by the United Nations, governments, think tanks, academic institutions, and publicly released intelligence analysis. Estimates may also understate activity conducted through illicit, covert, or sanctions-evasion networks. Accordingly, the figures should be treated as indicative ranges and broad trends\u2014not precise or comprehensive accounting.<\/p>\n

Sources for this analysis include: Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); the United Nations Panel of Experts on North Korea; Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS); Chainalysis; Korean Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA); UN COMTRADE; and the US Treasury. Additional context and supporting information were drawn from a range of news reports and research publications.<\/p>\n

To generate high-definition nighttime light imagery of North Korean cities, we downscaled NASA\u2019s Black Marble VNP46A2 original 500-meter-resolution satellite imagery to a 10-meter resolution using methods based on published NASA research<\/a>. To minimize seasonal changes in electricity usage, we averaged each pixel\u2019s brightness over several months. Vegetation patterns were mapped using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), allowing light intensity to be estimated at the 10-meter scale relative to the brightest location in each region from 2017, so the results are comparable across years. Known bodies of water were then masked to improve the visual representation, though some misclassification remains, particularly around seasonally flooded rice paddies and shifting river and coastal boundaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trade records and satellite photos show how North Korea\u2019s dictator found new cash to fortify his nuclear arsenal.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7979,134,7980,141,31,34,7299,129,137,130,1334],"class_list":["post-113146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-korea","tag-bloomberg-graphics","tag-china","tag-graphic","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-korea","tag-north-korea","tag-putin","tag-pyongyang","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-xi-jinping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}