There is an accepted misconception that slavery is dead in the modern world. However, a recent article in The Globe and Mail opens the window to a world of unpaid labour in the city of Vladivostok, Russia.

The article exposes the story of Babai who, like many others from North Korea, is working up to 12 hours days renovating the Russian city. However, their payment is not provided to them but rather to the Worker’s Party of North Korea. In addition, the workers are living in inadequate conditions with up to 100 living in an apartment together. Although wrong, the totalitarian regime of North Korea is not the ethical issue at hand here.

The immoral judgment lies in the Russian businesses and government that choose to hire North Korean workers despite the obvious lack of payment. In the business world, it’s inevitable that costs need to be minimized. Foreign workers are an easy way to cut costs.

However, there are ethical choices that need to be made prior to cost minimization. The moral question facing Russia is whether to support the poor treatment of North Korean workers by providing jobs or to take away the opportunity to work and escape their homeland? The sad truth may be that unpaid labour in Russia is the closest that the North Korean workers will get to freedom. For many, bondage and liberation has become synonymous.