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(Image: REUTERS)

Signe Poulsen, who heads up the UN office in Seoul, South Korea, said workers were being sent abroad to work for foreign bosses.

But when it comes to payday, she said the labourers had to hand over their wages as a "voluntary loyalty" donation to the oppressive regime.

And to make matters worse, cash-strapped workers are expected to snub local laws — continuing instead to abide by the harsh rules of their homeland.

(Image: AP)

She told Daily Star Online: "We have interviewed a few North Koreans who have been employed as overseas labour and that later came to South Korea.

"Salaries are inadequate, there are really tight restrictions on whether they can move and many of the same things that happen in North Korea continue to happen.

"Host countries, especially those countries that have engaged in human rights standards, have a responsibility to make sure that [those standards] are respected.

"So if you are a country and you're giving work to these North Korean workers, you need to make sure that they have the rights that are available to others in that country."

Slaves to the System, a project monitoring the practice led by Leiden University in the Netherlands, found that workers were even being sent to the European Union.

In a recent working paper, it said the labourers worked 12 to 16-hour days, earned far below the minimum wage and surrendered at least 80% of their pay.

And its latest report, citing UN figures, estimated 50,000 North Koreans were working abroad — netting up to $2.3 billion (£1.83bn) for the regime.

The project found that the workers were being mobilised, vetted and sent abroad by EU companies under Kim's control, which also arranged visas.

Signe Poulsen said: "People who go there go in a group, they don't have access to their passports all the time and they're restricted in moving outside their site.

"Much of their salaries is taken away either as part of their payment for being overseas workers or as so-called voluntary loyalty funds to the government."

It comes after authorities in South Korea warned that Kim Jong-un could conduct a missile test "at any time" to welcome Donald Trump's election.