Russia’s war on Ukraine has taken a huge human toll on both Ukraine and Russia. But the BBC reports, that human toll isn’t limited to the two countries. According to experts and escaped survivors, it also includes North Koreans. Due to escalating labor shortages in Russia, thousands of North Korean workers are being shipped over and forced to work in “slave-like conditions” to earn income for the regime.  

Not men, but “machines that can speak” 

Wake up everyday at 6am and work building high-rise apartments until 2am with just two days off a year. That is the situation described by all six of the North Korean survivors now safely living in South Korea. The workers originally put their hand up for the overseas roles. But when the reality of their new future hit home, it was soul shattering.  

Two of the survivors interviewed said:  

Waking up was terrifying, realizing you had to repeat the same day over again…Some people would leave their post to sleep in the day, or fall asleep standing up, but the supervisors would find them and beat them. It was truly like we were dying. 

And according to experts the working conditions are abysmal with almost no safety equipment. When the workers were finally allowed to sleep some spoke of dirty, overcrowded shipping containers, infested with bugs. Others described having to sleep on the floor of the unfinished apartment blocks. Workers had pull tarps over the empty door frames to try to block out the cold. And with constant supervision, there was almost no way out

Tell me more