The US reported on the existence of the North Korean labor camps in Russia
Russian authorities are not making sufficient efforts to combat human trafficking, and according to the State Department's annual “Trafficking in Persons Report” published on June 27th, there are thousands of DPRK citizens who work in labor camps in Russia under conditions of slavery.
“The Russian government has extended bilateral agreements with the DPRK, according to which North Korean labor camps operate in Russia, where thousands of North Korean workers are subjected to forced labor,” the document notes.
The report claims that North Korea annually sends up to 20,000 of its citizens to work in various camps, while another 30,000 DPRK citizens working in Russia are forced into labor.
According to the State Department, many of these people are forced to work 20 hours a day and their salaries go to the North Korea authorities. Pyongyang receives hundreds of millions of dollars a year as a result.
The State Department, in its report for the fifth year in a row, includes Russia in the lowest category of states, whose authorities do not fully comply with the US standards and legislation in combatting human trafficking.
“The Russian government does not comply with the minimum standards in counteracting human trafficking and is not taking significant steps in this direction,” as noted in the document.