Maria Zakharova
In Russia there is no labor camps, staffed by citizens of North Korea. This was announced by the representative of the foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, her words RIA Novosti.
“Allegations of forced labour of North Korean citizens in the so-called labor camps of the DPRK in the territory of Russia in the US report on the situation of human trafficking are unfounded. When we went the first message with quotes, it’s hard to believe”, — she told at a briefing. According to her, information on these camps — a way of pressure upon the DPRK and creating artificial barriers to limit cooperation.
The us state Department report was published on 27 June. “The Russian government supported, and recently expanded bilateral agreement with the DPRK, according to which in territory of Russia operated labor camps of North Korea, and thousands of North Korean workers were subjected to forced labour,” the document says. It is also noted that the DPRK every year goes to Russia about 20 thousand of its citizens for work in various industries. About 30 thousand citizens of the DPRK working in Russia officially, violently forced to work.
The existence of such camps, the media reported before — for example, VICE has published an article about the trip its correspondent in the Siberian “labor camp North Koreans” back in 2011.