KBS Confirms It: N. Korean Workers in Europe Are Slaves

Thanks to Mingi Hyun for forwarding, and to my wife for translation assistance.  Report, with video, here.

KBS has confirmed that North Korean workers’ pay in East Europe is sent to a North Korean government account.  The Czech government learned that most of the workers’ pay was sent to the North Korean government and has stopped issuing work visas for North Korean workers. . . .

The underwear factory is in the small village of Zebrac (phonetic), in the Czech Republic. There are 105 North Korean women workers. They all wear similar clothing and hairstyles.  They stay only in the factory dormitories and are seldom seen outside the factory grounds.

At Jeleze (phonetic), west of Prague, there are 17 North Korean workers.

Residents:  Sometimes there is a women who comes outside, but she doesn’t talk to us.

Portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il hang on the wall and the familiar slogan, “The patriotic general Kim Jong Il lives forever,” are attached to the wall.

Beginning 10 years ago, the North Korean workers came to work in the Czech Republic, and almost 408 people work here now.  They are completely isolated from the outside, but they are comparatively free inside the factory residence.

Their pay is around $400 [per month?], which is half price of Czech workers.  But they work with self-esteem.

And you base that conclusion on what?

Reporter: Is there any inconvenience for work?

North Korean worker: No.
Reporter: Do you find your work worth living?
North Korean worker: Well, what should I say . . . ?

Recently, the Czech government received evidence that the workers’ pay goes to the North Korean government, and stopped issuing new visas for North Korean workers.

Masarikova (phonetic), former Czech Interior Minister spokesman:  The Czech police investigated and found that 80% of the North Korean workers’ pay is sent to one account voluntarily.

The European Parliament has started to investigate the circumstances of North Korean workers in East Europe.  The North Korean government has been forced to export labor to earn hard currency.

KBS gets credit for actually covering this story, although it’s clearly trying to give the North Korean government the benefit of a sympathetic portrayal here, as evidenced by that last statement.  KBS ought to tell us whether the North Korean government is forced to squander its national resources on items like these and these.  No other government sels the labor of its people like this, and no government on earth isolates its people like this.  That’s because no other government has such a pathologically distorted set of priorities.