North Korea 'sends 100,000 abroad to work as slaves to fund luxuries for Kim Jong-un'
AS MANY as 100,000 North Koreans have been sold into slavery abroad in order to fund dictator Kim Jong-un's luxury lifestyle, human rights activists have claimed.
Tens of thousands of poor citizens from the secretive state have reportedly been sent away to work as "state-sponsered slaves", whose wages are confiscated and used to pay for luxury goods for the Pyongyang administration.
Ahn Myeong-chul, the head of NK Watch, a Seoul-based rights group, told the New York Times the country's regime was “exploiting their labour and salaries to fatten the private coffers of Kim Jong-un.”
They added: "We suspect that Kim is using some of the money to buy luxury goods for his elite followers and finance the recent building boom in Pyongyang that he has launched to show off his leadership.”
The practice has apparently been used since the 1980s to fund luxuries for the regime.
However, the situation is believed to have worsened under Jong-un.
Activists named Russia as the largest recipient of North Korean workers, with between 20,000 to 25,000 labourers.
One such worker was quoted in the North Korea Strategy Centre report as saying: "There is no contract, they say they will give us health insurance and heating access but we never receive anything.
“In reality we earn about 300 rubles (around £3.15) but they end up taking it all away.”
Other recipients of 'slaves' from North Korea include countries in the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa, as well as China.
Human rights groups say the conditions faced by many North Korean workers sent away to such arrangements are tantamount to slavery.
A worker in Kuwait was quoted in the report was quoted as saying: “The North Korean workers are trapped in wired fences so we have never met any other Koreans."
Many working in China endure long hours in sweatshops watched over by security guards.
Other jobs include work in Russian logging camps, digging military tunnels in Myanmar, building monuments for African dictators, sweating at construction sites in the Middle East and long hours aboard fishing boats off Fiji, according to former workers and activists.
The claims come after North Korea's leader indicated he could be on the verge of launching a string of fresh purges among his senior staff.
Jong-un, who was recently ridiculed when he debuted a new sculpted hairstyle and somewhat minimal eyebrows, has reportedly ordered senior Workers’ Party of Korea members to carry out a "campaign against abuse of power, irregularities and corruption" within the Pyongyang elite.
The 32-year-old cheese-loving dictator has previously unleashed a series of purges to tighten his hold on power in the reclusive nation - including ordering the death of his own uncle, Jang Song Thaek in 2013.
