North Korea Slaves Sold to Russia

I am not sure if any of you are aware of this or how widely this is known but I was only made aware of it yesterday. I was truely shocked by what I saw.

In the documentary below a journalist (one that has been to NK twice and filmed undercover) travellied deep into the forests of Russia and filmed the labour camps there.

With the help of a bribed policeman and mobster he films the North Koreans at the sites and gets into trouble there.

It is an excellent documentary and is backed up with articles and quite a bit of info on google.

"I worked 15 hours a day for five years. In July 1998, I counted the vouchers I had been given instead of money. They were worth US$3,000. That was my goal. I risked my life earning that money. I was excited about bringing the money home, but when I told the logging office to pay me, they said they had no money." The logging office had sent all the cash it received from Russia to the North. That was the last straw: Kim escaped in January 1999.

english.chosun.com...

"Why did you run away from a timber camp. If you hadn't, you could have returned home?" we asked. "If they paid me just 10 percent of my earnings, I wouldn't have run away," he replied. "My mother country abandoned me. Why should I put up with that?" The reason behind the flight of these North Korean loggers was simple. They received brutal treatment with no payment.

english.chosun.com...

They aren't slaves. They are North Korean workers who work for the Russian Government. They do get "paid"; but it's a communist country. We don't really know enough about North Korean-Russian relations to judge to harshly, considering the lumber they cut down is sold to EU nations. No one in North Korea really gets paid.

I would actually say DPRK is using Russian as a method of getting Korean goods on the international market, not as slaves.

reply to post by badconduct


I think saying they are not slaves because no one gets paid in NK is like saying there were no black slaves in US because people in Africa were starving before thyey were taken.

I see people forced into labour 15 hours a day with little food and no money at the end it it. I call that slavery.

I don't think it started that way because they were paid up until the 90's but now I would call it slavery.

Let any government have complete control over a population and there are always problems. History tries to teach but few listen.

The re-education camps where the NKs are sent to Siberia to work makes one wonder how any population could let things get so far out of hand. Guess it was another frog on the stove in the water thing?

reply to post by 727Sky


I think it is a mix of:

Stolkhome Syndrome
Lack of info
Fear
A lot of other things.

Some of the slaves spoke about their fear of their families being punished if they defected. That would kep a lot of people in a place of submission.

I found this from the BBC

I travelled to one of the camps deep in the forest. A giant monument bearing the words "Our greatest leader Kim Il-sung lives with us forever" stood in the middle. One of the buildings had a sign which read "Laboratory of Kim Il-sung's Theory" a commonly used slogan found on North Korean administration blocks. The camp even had its own theatre.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Originally posted by Onami
I found this from the BBC

I travelled to one of the camps deep in the forest. A giant monument bearing the words "Our greatest leader Kim Il-sung lives with us forever" stood in the middle. One of the buildings had a sign which read "Laboratory of Kim Il-sung's Theory" a commonly used slogan found on North Korean administration blocks. The camp even had its own theatre.

news.bbc.co.uk...

A good link there, I had not seen that newsnight programme.
I think it is enough to say that the Op's title is essentially correct. The English connection is pretty grubby, you can take it that they know exactly what's going on, and the same goes for the Russians involved. These people make me sick.

Originally posted by badconduct
They aren't slaves. They are North Korean workers who work for the Russian Government. They do get "paid"; but it's a communist country. We don't really know enough about North Korean-Russian relations to judge to harshly, considering the lumber they cut down is sold to EU nations. No one in North Korea really gets paid.

I would actually say DPRK is using Russian as a method of getting Korean goods on the international market, not as slaves.

edit on 8-4-2013 by badconduct because: (no reason given)

Of course they are slaves, and they are not in NK. Any host nation should make sure the piecework is paid to those who earned it, should ensure they have good living conditions, at the very least in the central areas, AKA a home to go to.

Originally posted by badconduct
They aren't slaves. They are North Korean workers who work for the Russian Government. They do get "paid"; but it's a communist country. We don't really know enough about North Korean-Russian relations to judge to harshly, considering the lumber they cut down is sold to EU nations. No one in North Korea really gets paid.

I would actually say DPRK is using Russian as a method of getting Korean goods on the international market, not as slaves.

edit on 8-4-2013 by badconduct because: (no reason given)

Bravo, finally some intelligence. If you listened to one of the gang leaders, he said their country is the way it is because of lack of food and rice because of US sanction's. Kimi and now his son are not evil dictator's staving their people .The US are doing that and it doe's not take a genius to see it , so there are a lot of dumb people out there to believe it.So what country really is the father of propaganda then ? Being critical, doe's not mean you are capable of critical thinking.

Also this is no different than the Chinese companies in Australia and elsewhere bringing in cheaper labour from there own countries.

Yes OP, it is a interesting story on how people are living but nothing more than that.This kind of story is common all over the world. I guess your intention is to villify North Korea while we have all this tension.You fail. Even the gang boss was respectful and intelligent enough to see through the journalistic propaganda and see why the camera's were there.

I made this thread, with pictures and videos, and got no replies.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Bravo, finally some intelligence. If you listened to one of the gang leaders, he said their country is the way it is because of lack of food and rice because of US sanction's. Kimi and now his son are not evil dictator's staving their people .The US are doing that and it doe's not take a genius to see it , so there are a lot of dumb people out there to believe it.So what country really is the father of propaganda then ? Being critical, doe's not mean you are capable of critical thinking. Also this is no different than the Chinese companies in Australia and elsewhere bringing in cheaper labour from there own countries. Yes OP, it is a interesting story on how people are living but nothing more than that.This kind of story is common all over the world. I guess your intention is to villify North Korea while we have all this tension.You fail. Even the gang boss was respectful and intelligent enough to see through the journalistic propaganda and see why the camera's were there.

edit on 8-4-2013 by 13th Zodiac because: (no reason given)

Of course, why didn't I think to adopt a Russian gang leaders opinion. He is obviously a leading authority.

This is nothing to do with America provoking NK, or NK retaliating. I am talking about a select group of people that are held as slaves in Russia, not the leaders of squbbling countries.

Maybe America are to blame for a lot of the problems that are going on now, I for one really believe that but I am discussing something different here. I am talking about slaves.

Has it ever occured to you that more than one bad thing can happen at once?

reply to post by Onami


Russian Gang leader ??? Friend I am talking about the North Korean Gang leader. By Gang leader I mean leading hand / foreman . Watch and understand what you are posting before you post it.You got anything else you want to say to me ?

Again, they are not slaves . They are labourer's. Write about becoming aware of your own slavery.

reply to post by 13th Zodiac


I apologise. I assume you were talking about the mobster in the documentary as opposed to the foreman at the camp.

Do you accept that I am not doing the things you assumed?

Originally posted by 13th Zodiac
reply to post by Onami

 

Russian Gang leader ??? Friend I am talking about the North Korean Gang leader. By Gang leader I mean leading hand / foreman . Watch and understand what you are posting before you post it.You got anything else you want to say to me ?

Again, they are not slaves . They are labourer's. Write about becoming aware of your own slavery.

edit on 8-4-2013 by 13th Zodiac because: (no reason given)

They are slaves, there is no other real word for it. They are in a foreign country, they should be paid by that country, and not be used as corporate Western/Eastern fodder. Of course the sanctions are harmful, and should not have happened, but they are an addition come lately. North Korea is not an arable country to begin with, and you need to remember that the former USSR was the regime that cosseted North Korea as a communist state, but not now, the trade amounts to only 3% and that is where the problem lies, it is not West meets East any more, this is where West AND East meets North Korea.

Originally posted by Onami
reply to post by 13th Zodiac

 

I apologise. I assume you were talking about the mobster in the documentary as opposed to the foreman at the camp.

Do you accept that I am not doing the things you assumed?

Fair call, not the best timing with all the anti N.Korea rhetoric and war mongering.The world is in bad enough shape as it is.
Please listen to what the North Korean's have to say about their circumstances, the only one calling it slavery is the Journalist.
The N.K foreman is quite dignified and wise in his approach. While their work conditions are poor (no different to India, asia and elsewhere, I might add) .Nothing implies they are forced but the journalist.
If you have the chance to travel the world and get out of the glitzy tourist center's , you will see these same condition everywhere. It's not slavery it's just sad. But in a capitilist system, someone has to be on the bottom.
They seem realist's to the poverty circumstances of their Nation . But with understanding, the foreman blames international sanction's for starving and crippling his country and that is exactly what sanction's are for.

So with all due respect, how about you and I ( op ), call a cease fire

reply to post by 13th Zodiac


I will watch the documentary again tomorrow.

I accept your ceasfire lol.