Yeji Kim 김예지

Yeji Kim is a researcher specialising in North Korean state-sponsored forced labour, forced migration, and refugee economies. She currently serves as Researcher and Advisor at Global Rights Compliance, an international humanitarian law firm based in The Hague and London, and is founder and Director of Nox Analytica, an independent research consultancy based in London.

Her recent work includes a landmark investigation into DPRK state-sponsored forced labour in Russia, benchmarked against all eleven ILO forced labour indicators, which received coverage across The Times, NBC, BBC, Deutsche Welle, The Independent, South China Morning Post, and ABC Radio National. She played a central role in the unanimous adoption of a UN Human Rights Council resolution on North Korea, including language addressing the nexus between weapons of mass destruction programmes and human rights violations.

Previously, she spent six years at Liberty in North Korea as Senior Communications Coordinator. She holds an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from the University of Oxford and a BA in Philosophy and International Studies from Ewha Womans University. She is a Certified Legal Interpreter in the Republic of Korea.

Recent Publications

• <A Day in the Life of a DPRK State-Sponsored Labourer in St. Petersburg, Russia>, Global Rights Compliance, March 2026.
• <The paradox of North Korea’s Overseas Labour Programme>, Refuge Studies Centre, University of Oxford, January 2026.
• <We Asked What Accountability Means to North Korean Forced Labour Victims. This Is What They Told Us>, Global Rights Compliance, December 2026.
• <Exporting labour, importing risk: The paradox of the North Korean Overseas Labour Programme>, Refuge Studies Centre, University of Oxford, December 2026.
  

Media Appearances

• The Times - 'North Korean labourers lead ‘lives worse than cattle’ in Russia'
• The Times (Print Circulation) - 'Work 16-hour days for$10 a month'
• NBC News - 'Cockroaches, surveillance and 16-hour days: The life of a North Korean worker in Russia'
• The Independent - 'North Korean workers in Russia allowed only one shower a year and ‘treated worse than cattle’ 
• The Sun - 'Vlad's Slave Empire Horrors of Russia's $10-a-month North Korean slave workers who get one shower a year living in bug-riddled 'containers' 
• South China Morning Post - 'Rights group exposes North Korea's forced labour scheme that reaps US $500 million annually' 
• The Korea Herald - 'North Korean workers in Russia endure abuse, near-zero pay: report'
• The Irish Sun - 'VLAD'S SLAVE EMPIRE Horrors of Russia’s $10-a-month North Korean slave workers who get one shower a YEAR living in bug-riddled ‘containers’
• The Libération "It's worse than slavery": In Russia, thousands of North Koreans are being forced into a forced labor program'
• ABC National Radio - https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/sundayextra/north-korean-workers-in-russia/106532380
• Voice of America - 북한 노동자 “여권 뺏기고, 15층 곤돌라에 매달려” 제재보다 시급한 것은?
• Deutsche Welle's 'Inside Europe' podcast: