North Korean workers sent to Russia under Kim Jong Un’s overseas labour programme are forced to live in shipping containers with no shower facilities, limited to one or two showers per year, according to a new investigation by Global Rights Compliance.
The 29-year-old worker Guemhyuk Kim, from Pyongyang, was sent to St Petersburg in 2024 for construction work. He lives with 20 others in a cramped container infested with cockroaches and bedbugs, 200 metres from the site. “There’s no shower facility so we just clean off our face with a tap,” he said.
The investigation found that at least 100,000 North Koreans are sent abroad under the programme, working up to 16 hours a day, 364 days a year, for about $10 (£7.4) per month. They face abusive conditions including restriction of movement, retention of identity documents, physical and sexual violence, and intimidation.
Workers are required to meet a monthly quota, known as Gukga Gyehoekbun, to send foreign currency back to North Korea. One worker said they “led lives worse than cattle”, with injuries and illnesses ignored or treated with salt water. The programme has accelerated in Russia despite a UN ban, driven by labour shortages from the war in Ukraine.
