CNN news 11/29 (355 words)

North Korea believed to earn a fortune from forced labor overseas, U.N. says

By Jethro Mullen, CNN

Updated 1310 GMT (2110 HKT) October 29, 2015

cnn.com

(part)(CNN)North Korea's catalog of abuses against its own people within the secretive country's tightly controlled borders has been widely reported. But Kim Jong Un's regime is also believed to be pocketing huge sums from tens of thousands of its citizens who are sent abroad to toil in forced labor conditions, the United Nations says.

The laborers are made to work as long as 20 hours a day without enough food and under constant surveillance, according to a new report from Marzuki Darusman, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea.

He told a news conference Wednesday that the practice has become more visible in recent years and that "the numbers have grown."

"I think it reflects the really tight financial and economic situation in the North," Darusman said.

The overwhelming majority of the workers are employed in North Korean allies China and Russia, according to the report. But the rest are spread across a range of countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Harsh conditions, little or no pay

CNN reported on the practice in May, highlighting the case of a North Korean man who worked on a construction site in Kuwait for five months without receiving any pay. He eventually managed to escape his minders and take asylum in the South Korean Embassy.

His story chimed with those of other escaped workers who have told rights groups of long hours, little or no pay, no freedom and harsh living conditions.

Those who do get paid are believe to receive between $120 and $150 a month, but their employers "pay significantly higher amounts" to the North Korean government, the U.N. report said.

Kim's regime appears to be orchestrating the system "to circumvent United Nations sanctions imposed on the country with a view to earning currencies," it explained, citing a 2012 report from a rights group that estimated North Korea was raking in between $1.2 billion and $2.3 billion a year from the scheme.

Much of the money generated by the workers is believed to be diverted to the regime's military and nuclear program, as well as to its elite inner circle.

北韓這個神祕的國家嚴格控制人民反抗一事已被大肆報導。不過聯合國表示，金正恩政權是透過將成千上萬公民送往國外強迫勞動私吞大額資金來取得。

北韓的聯合國人權組織特別報告人Marzuki說，這些公民每天工作20個小時，沒有足夠的食物，還長期被監視。

對近年日漸明顯的勞動且公民數量持續增長的舉動，他星期三辦了一場會議。「我認為這已反映出北韓財政跟經濟上的壓力了。」

報告顯示，大多數公民在緊鄰北韓的中俄邊界工作，剩下的則廣大散佈在亞洲，中東，非洲及歐洲。

動不動就拿不到錢的惡劣工作環境

CNN曾在五月報導相關事件，指出有位北韓男工在科威特工作五個月，竟拿不到任何薪資。最後他逃出保鑣的手掌心並到南韓尋求庇護。

他的故事激發了其他跟他一樣的工人也跟著逃離，那些工時很長，沒有薪資，失去自由跟身處惡劣的生活環境的人。

而聯合國說，有些據說一個月拿得到120到150元美金不等的工人，卻要回饋高額的薪水給北韓政府。金正恩的政權創造出一個美好的系統，2012年人權組織評估因北韓該舉避開了聯合國強力制裁賺取匯率的措施，獲得了12億到23億之間的資金。

而這些工人賺來的錢相信都被花在鞏固政權的軍隊武力和核武計畫中，以及核心菁英份子身上。

regime (n.) 政權
toil (v.) 辛勤工作
surveillance (n.) 監視
rapporteur (n.) 報告人
minder (n.) 保鑣
asylum (n.) 避難
chime (v.) 敲響
orchestrate (v.) 把...譜成管絃樂曲
circumvent (v.) 避開
elite (n.) 社會精英