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Article

26 Aug 2009

Author:
Simon Ostrovsky, BBC Newsnight

N Koreans toiling in Russia's timber camps [includes video]

[I]n the Amur region of Russia… North Korea has created a home away from home at a series of remote logging camps in which nearly 1,500 workers are employed…One worker [said]…"The logs cause injuries. The drivers drop logs and people get killed.”…Russian human rights organisations…[say] the labourers are underpaid and sometimes not paid at all…[T]he North Korean state…take 35% of the proceeds from their logging operations in Russia…The remainder goes to a firm called Tynda Les, who are owned by the Russian Timber Group…Russian Timber Group's CEO [Leo Hambro] [said]…Russian Timber Group makes sure that the company which provides the workers complies with the Russian labour code and that they get regularly inspected.