My name is Daniel. I was an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea, and now I am a writer and scholar who has written a number of books including South Korea: Our Story by Daniel Nardini.

                      It is an issue that can only be called slavery. As the number of North Korean restaurant workers who defect to South Korea grows, it is putting the spotlight on an important issue---that North Korean restaurant workers are no more than slaves to the North Korean government, and that they are told what they must do in order to earn the North Korean government hard currency. They are paid next to nothing, forced to live in harsh conditions, and they are carefully watched so they cannot try to escape. They know that if they try to escape their families back in North Korea will suffer. These people (mostly women) have no say about where they are assigned by the North Korean government, and no say when they must return to North Korea. They are greatly restricted from knowing anything through the news media of those countries they work in, and they must "perform" all duties no matter how disgusting they may be. Considering that the North Korean government does not allow their own people to leave freely, these people are carefully selected and sent to other countries for the express purpose of earning hard currency the North Korean government desperately needs. North Korea operates 120 restaurants in 12 countries, and these restaurants alone bring in an estimated $10 million. But make no mistake, the North Korean workers in these restaurants have no freedom whatsoever, and the only way to escape this form of slavery is to defect.