STIFF plywood bunks in unheated containers crawling with cockroaches, with no showers – this is the home of North Korean men sent to work in slave-like conditions in Russia.
Packed side by side, they sleep under constant watch before being awoken by a loudspeaker for their shift that could last up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week. No holiday and no day off.
Workers are treated like slaves and take home barely $10 (£7.50) a month while the government takes anything extra the job pays.
One worker, 50, who fell victim to the scheme said: “It felt like they thought our lives were worth no more than insects.”
Spies hide among work crews to keep a watchful eye on dissent, while workers have their passports confiscated, and any movement is restricted while in Russia.
Kim Jong-un and his evil cronies have sent tens of thousands of workers overseas to replace Russians killed or wounded in the invasion of Ukraine.
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Yeji Kim, North Korea Advisor, from international human rights foundation Global Rights Compliance, told The Sun that Russia‘s construction sector has been hit particularly hard as Russian men are deployed en mass to die on the frontline.
“North Korean workers are not replacing a cheaper option,” she said. “They are filling a gap where there is no option at all.”
What makes them particularly “attractive” is output – and that Russia can abuse them 14 to 16 hours a day, 365 days a year, for pennies.
An estimated 100,000 people, the reports says, have fallen victim to this forced labour system.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are generated annually to fund Kim’s lavish lifestyle and his beloved missile programme.
Testimonies, shared in a new report by Global Rights Compliance, reveal the depths of this oppressive “pattern of control, abuse and coercion.”
A 64-year-old man, from western North Korea, said: “I can’t shake the feeling of being watched.
“I spent too long under surveillance – even in a quiet room, I feel like someone’s coming for me. That psychological anxiety – that’s the hardest part.”
Even before arriving, workers are already in debt as they are bound to pay Kim for the “privilege” of working abroad – typically ranging from $400 to $750 per month.
They fall further behind if they don’t meet the quota, further trapping them into the government’s evil claws.
A 52-year-old man from Sinuiju said: “Working long hours is something I can endure, but what troubles me most is not earning enough relative to the work I put in.
“On top of that, being away from my wife and daughter is difficult. If I cannot bring home enough money, it feels as though I am failing them.”
After the state quota, living expenses, and debt from travelling fees are deducted, there is often nothing left to send to their families or keep for themselves.
Some workers were aware of it before departure, but most were not, the report revealed.
This labour programme serves both Russia and North Korea – the closest of comrades – and according to Kim, both sides are now “more dependent” on it than ever.
She said: “For Russia, international sanctions and the war have driven away some Central Asian migrant workers and restricted access to other labour sources.
“The 2024 Moscow terror attack by Tajik nationals led to further crackdowns on Central Asian migration. North Korean workers fill that gap.
“For North Korea, it is the mirror image. Sanctions have restricted access to global markets, making the export of labour one of its few remaining hard currency channels.
“The number of North Koreans entering Russia in 2024 was a dozen times higher than in 2023.”
At the same time, overseas deployment is framed as a rare privilege, even as a reward and people sometimes bribe officials for the chance.
North Koreans are told this is a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunities granted only to those deemed politically reliable.
Travel is organised exclusively in groups and supervised by regime officers or interpreters tasked with monitoring behaviour and defection risks.
“Spies report people at the worksite who browse the internet or watch American films, Korean films, or sexual content,” a source explained.
“Those individuals are punished by North Korean authorities depending on the severity – tagged and sent back to North Korea.”
Managers wield near-total authority. Physical violence is not the primary mechanism of control, but it is far from absent, the report said.
“The site manager doesn’t hit people, but he is always verbally abusing us,” said one the workers.
“He has connections to the company boss, so he acts without fear. There’s never a moment when he’s not using foul language.”
The threat of repatriation is the ultimate lever. Workers who refuse to pay the mandatory monthly quota, or who fall short are expelled.
Lara Strangways, Head of Human Rights at Global Rights Compliance said the testimonies collected from 21 North Koreans are “deeply alarming.”
She said: “The relative ease with which workers continue to be transferred into exploitative overseas labour arrangements should be deeply alarming.
“It reveals not only the durability of the overseas labour model, but also the weakness of current enforcement and accountability measures.
“What is needed is targeted enforcement: rigorous investigation of recruiters, employers and state facilitators, scrutiny of payment flows, and coordinated action by authorities to identify these schemes for what they are – a system of state-sponsored forced labour.”