In the 16 years since, stories have surfaced from time to time about these North Korean lumber camps in Russia.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: North Korea, evil as usual

Companies used scrip for payroll in lieu of cash, which was difficult and dangerous to transport into the remote towns and lumber camps where everyone lived and worked.

FORBES: Magazine Article

In 1994 I was working as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in Moscow when a story turned up in the Russian press, saying that North Korea was running lumber camps in remote areas of Russia.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: North Korea, evil as usual

But Mr. Miracle, a volunteer since 1996, said his department fields five times the calls it did a decade ago in the county of 29, 000 people, which has just two towns but several dozen unincorporated communities that were once coal or lumber camps.

WSJ: Putting Out Fires for a Fee