Apparently, more and more men from North Korea are working in Russia. Reports indicate working conditions akin to slavery, and escaping is nearly impossible. For dictator Kim Jong Un and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, it’s a win-win situation. North Korean workers are lured to Russia with big promises. The reality, however, is quite different, as revealed in a report by the BBC. “I felt like I was in a labor camp, a prison without bars,” a North Korean said about his time in Russia.
The country is facing a labor shortage after several years of war with Ukraine and is apparently resorting to drastic measures to address it. 20 hours of work a day North Koreans are working on construction sites and building high-rise apartments, according to workers who fled Russia and spoke to the BBC. In the future, workers are even expected to be deployed in areas destroyed during the war with Ukraine.
North Koreans report terrible conditions in Russia: workdays run from six in the morning until two in the morning. Workers get only four hours of sleep at night, with just two days off per year. Sleeping on site North Koreans are monitored day and night and are not allowed to leave the construction sites. They are taken to sleep in dirty, overcrowded shipping containers or spend their short night on the floors of unfinished apartment blocks.
North Korea keeps the workers’ earnings, providing the state with a valuable source of income. The men receive only a small portion of the money when they return to North Korea, making it harder for them to flee. “Some people left their workplaces to sleep during the day or fell asleep standing up, but the guards found them and beat them. It was really like we were dying,” one worker told the BBC. Workers from other countries have even described the North Koreans as slaves.
Banned practice North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has been supporting Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in the war against Ukraine for some time with weapons and soldiers, and apparently also with labor. The UN has banned this for several years, but the exchange of workers continues.
Last year, more than 10,000 people from North Korea are said to have arrived in Russia. This year, there could be more than 50,000, according to a British intelligence official who spoke to the BBC. Russia has found a way to circumvent the UN ban: some of the workers are simply given a student visa and can therefore officially enter the country.
