Russia and DPRK sign migration agreement

Russia and North Korea have signed an agreement on "migrant labor." Not all the details are out yet but it's apparently something akin to a reciprocal guest worker program.

As of 2006, there were around 13,000 North Korean "guest workers" in Russia, with the knowledge of the DPRK government. Le Monde diplomatique has the story of these workers. The conditions are, not surprisingly, pretty bad. From the article:

The lumberjacks’ stories were as heavy as taiga timber. Not getting out of the way fast enough when trees are coming down is a hazard of the job. Often there are accidents which lead to broken limbs, sometimes needing amputation. There are doctors at the camps, but medicines are often unavailable or out of date. A lumberjack said: “If you can pay, you get better treatment. I’ve been injured three times. Once, numbed by the cold, I was working too slowly and a trunk fell down on my chest. I was lucky not to die. Another time I hurt my leg and couldn’t work for a month, so I didn’t get paid.”

The lumberjacks are not allowed to seek treatment in Russian hospitals: the camps are self-contained and contact with outside is forbidden. Though they are cut off from neighbouring villages, some workers do manage to trade with the Russians in secret. They have to get around the Korean security services, the Powibo, at the camps. Our informants said that breaking the rules leads to severe punishments, and for trying to escape, the punishment is solitary confinement.

Given that there appears to already have been some sort of policy on migrant labor, I'm not sure what exactly the new policy will change in terms of the conditions and legal status of the North Koreans who are in Russia with the blessing of the DPRK government.

On the other hand, of course, there are between 2,000 and 10,000 North Korean refugees in Russia. The migrant labor agreement also apparently includes "legal bases to fight illegal migration," which can only mean bad news for those refugees. While local officials may repatriate North Korean refugees on their own, there's no official Russian policy on the matter. Amnesty has the story:

The central Russian authorities have adopted a policy of tolerating North Korean refugees on the territory of Russia. The authorities are, however, not willing to grant these North Koreans refugee status or residence permits. Refugees are, in fact, encouraged to leave Russia and resettle elsewhere. This “policy of tolerance” is not in line with the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees under which the Russian authorities have the obligation to identify and protect those asylum seekers in need of protection. The Russian authorities also do not grant North Korean refugees appropriate protection of their rights (see for further details Section 3.3.2).

Although North Korean refugees should, as a result of the “policy of tolerance”, be reasonably safe in Russia (there should not be an acute danger of deportation by the central Russian authorities), this is not always the case. The central authorities do not always abide by the “policy of tolerance”, as was for instance the case in September 1995 when the Procurator General of Russia sanctioned the deportation of a North Korean refugee called Lee Yen Sen to North Korea, before his request for asylum had been considered by the Russian authorities.

How exactly the migrant labor agreement will affect this is uncertain. We'll keep you posted.