Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/8815415
An estimated 100,000 North Koreans are posted abroad, mostly in factories and construction sites in north-east China, operated by the North Korean government, where they earn valuable foreign currency for the sanctions-hit regime. It is estimated they earned Pyongyang $740m (£586m) between 2017 and 2023.
Most of their earnings are transferred directly to the state.
It’s the same deal with Russia too, specifically forestry industries.
North Koreans Trapped in ‘State-Sponsored Slavery’ in Russia (April 2023)
These [North Korean] 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.
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.
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