Mick Hartley

After yesterday's look at North Korean workers in China, the Daily NK today turns to Russia:

North Korean authorities have intensified surveillance of workers dispatched to Russia, immediately repatriating those caught accessing foreign content. This crackdown is creating a climate of fear as North Korea prepares for large-scale labor dispatches to earn foreign currency.

According to a Daily NK source in Russia recently, at least three North Korean workers were sent home between late last year and early July after being caught with portable storage devices containing foreign cultural content, including South Korean dramas.

One male worker in Moscow was questioned and repatriated early this year after being discovered with foreign content in December. A similar incident occurred in another Russian region around the same time. In early July, a worker in his thirties from Vladivostok was caught with a USB drive containing South Korean dramas and questioned by North Korean state security agents stationed in Russia. He is scheduled to be sent home later this month.

Not just sent home, of course. A long period in a labour camp almost certainly awaits – after extensive "interrogation".

The heightened surveillance follows a corruption case involving Choi Sung Chol, a North Korean state security agent stationed in Russia, which gained international attention when North Korean workers exposed it publicly. In response, North Korea overhauled its worker control systems, preparing for additional large-scale labor dispatches to Russia.

North Korean state security agents deployed overseas conduct comprehensive surveillance that goes far beyond ideological oversight. They monitor workers’ daily routines, conversations, behavior, and outside contacts, then report their findings to authorities.

In worker dormitories, personal belongings are inspected daily after evening roll call. “Optional searches” – surprise inspections of lockers, luggage, and even under beds – occur frequently, according to the source.

“What’s happening now isn’t arbitrary control by state security, but systematic management based on clear state orders,” the source explained. “They’re building a system to prevent problematic elements and uncontrollable incidents before North Korea significantly increases overseas worker dispatches.”

Possessing electronic devices like laptops or MP3 players, or storage devices like USB drives or SD cards, is strictly forbidden and can lead to severe punishment for “ideological deviation.” Workers are extremely cautious about not only sharing foreign content but even consuming it privately.

Workers are also prohibited from meeting foreigners. Personal conversations with local Russians or workers of other nationalities are considered “independent activity without organizational approval” and trigger investigations by state security agents.

“In some locations, CCTVs monitor dormitory and workplace hallways, and workers are completely forbidden from leaving at night,” the source said. “Workers who enter at unusual times or visit unclear locations must explain themselves and sometimes face punishment.”

Yep – however much you resist the cliché, as Christopher Hitchens noted 15 years ago, you just can't avoid the Orwell 1984 comparison. They make you say it.