Thousands of men from North Korea arrive in Russia to fill the lack of labor, which is further worsened after three and a half years of Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow increasingly relies on the North Korean workers, according to which, however, refers to the slaves in the work camps, the BBC writes.
The North Koreans are mammals in Russia promises of high salaries, but reality is far from these promises. Men live in terrible conditions, under strict supervision, in order to prevent possible escape attempts.
“I felt like in the work camp, in prison without bars,” one of the six North Koreans said, in spite of all the measures, managed to escape. Most of them work in the construction sector, and are planned to be transferred to the occupied and war-destructive terrain areas.
The worker who spoke the BBC called Djin, told that, as soon as he landed on the Russian Far East, from the airport under the accompaniment of the North Korean security agent was taken to the construction site. The agent ordered him that he did not talk to anyone and not to look around.
“The outer world is our enemy,” Agent told him. Djin is arranged on the construction of a skyscraper, where he worked more than 18 hours a day. All the workers who managed to escape described that they had stood at six o’clock in the morning and worked up to two hours after midnight, with only two days away in the year.
“It was frightening and realizing that he was repeated the same day as yesterday,” said another worker Tae, remembering that one morning of his hands was literally numb from hard work the day before.
The third worker, Chan, he said that some of the day left the workplace in order to sleep or even sudden standing, but the superiors would find them and beat them. “It was like we were dying,” he said.
Professor Kang Dong-Wan from a South Korean University, who several times traveled to Russia for talks with North Korea workers, described the conditions as “really terrible.” According to him, workers work at night without proper lighting and without any protective equipment.
According to testimonies, workers have been closed on construction sites dated, under the constant supervision of agents from the North Korean Ministry of State Security. They sleep in dirty, overcrowded containers full of rockets or on the floors of unfinished residential buildings.
Up to 50,000 workers – like slaves
Nam another worker, he said he once fell off the job and suffered serious injuries, but his superiors did not allow him to leave the construction site and went to the hospital.
In the past, tens of thousands of North Koreahys worked in Russia, earning his leader Kim Jong and financially exhausted Million Dollar Mode a year. However, 2019. The United Nations banned countries to hire these workers, to cut off from foreign revenues and prevent it from the development of the nuclear program. That meant that everyone had to be returned home.
However, more than 10,000 workers were sent to Russia, the South Korean intelligence service for the BBC. This year their number could rise to more than 50,000. Most are engaged in large construction projects, while some were sent to textile factories and IT centers – which is in direct opposition to UN sanctions that prohibit the use of North Korean labor.
For $ 200 a month
The data of the Russian government shows that 2024. More than 13,000 Northern Koreans entered the country – twelve times more than the previous year. Almost 8,000 have arrived on student visas, which, according to intelligence sources and experts, is a trick that Russia uses to bypass the UN ban.
Work abroad in North Korea is considered extremely desirable because it is believed to bring a far better earnings than working at home. People go with hope that they will get out of poverty and that on their return will be able to buy a house or run their own business. After rigorous checks, only “the most reliable” men, who then leave families.
However, most of their revenues are immediately sent to the North Korean state as a “fee of loyalty.” What stays – usually between $ 100 and $ 200 – is recorded in books, and pays only upon returning home, which, according to experts, a way to prevent their escape.
When workers understand reality – difficult conditions and miserable salary – it can be devastating. Tae said that it was “shy” when he learned that the workers from Central Asia for a third of the work he works receive five times a higher salary. “I felt like in the work camp; a prison without bars,” he concluded, writes the BBC.
(Vijesti.ba)
