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| North Koreans Trapped in ‘State-Sponsored Slavery’ in Russia | North Koreans Trapped in ‘State-Sponsored Slavery’ in Russia |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| SEOUL — For more than three decades, North Korea has sent workers abroad to make money for its regime. | SEOUL — For more than three decades, North Korea has sent workers abroad to make money for its regime. |
| These workers have toiled in logging camps in Russia, factories and restaurants in China and farms and shipyards in Eastern Europe. They have sweated in construction sites in the Middle East and worked as doctors in African hospitals. | These workers have toiled in logging camps in Russia, factories and restaurants in China and farms and shipyards in Eastern Europe. They have sweated in construction sites in the Middle East and worked as doctors in African hospitals. |
| They left their children or parents behind as hostages, their passports confiscated for fear that they may flee to South Korea. | They left their children or parents behind as hostages, their passports confiscated for fear that they may flee to South Korea. |
| Under the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, the number of workers sent abroad to raise money for the regime increased to tens of thousands, making billions of dollars a year, according to South Korean estimates. A United Nations Security Council resolution required countries to expel the workers by the end of 2019. | Under the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, the number of workers sent abroad to raise money for the regime increased to tens of thousands, making billions of dollars a year, according to South Korean estimates. A United Nations Security Council resolution required countries to expel the workers by the end of 2019. |
| But thousands still remain in China and Russia, according to former workers and a new report on North Korean human rights published by the South’s Unification Ministry over the weekend. With borders closed during the pandemic, many have been trapped, with no choice but to continue toiling away for their government. | |
| China and Russia, which have sought to make the North a more useful partner in their rivalry with the United States, have become loopholes in enforcing the U.N. ban, helping the North earn badly needed cash as it deals with the fallout of international sanctions and the pandemic. |