VICE founder Shane Smith spent eternity on a train, disembarking at its Siberian terminus to investigate logging camps using North Korean slave labor.
On the way to uncovering the labor camps Kim and North Korea set up to bring hard currency to their impoverished country, Sean Smith reaccustoms himself to dealing with Russian alcoholics on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
After many days of sitting on the train and drinking a lot of vodka, Shane reached Tynda but had to dodge the Russian secret police – the FSB. After evading authorities and boarding a one-car train going nowhere, Sean arrives at a North Korean labor camp.
Accompanied by a former police chief, Sean and Simon break into an abandoned North Korean labor camp to explore propaganda and “Kim Jong-il’s laboratory”. Sean and Simon leave with arms full of “souvenirs,” fearing they’ve been caught, but are eventually introduced to an actual North Korean worker by two Russian scrap dealers.
Shane and Simon travel to Tataul and team up with local mafia member “The Fish”. From there, they headed to the forest and into an active North Korean labor camp in central Siberia, where they encountered North Korean workers who inadvertently admitted to poor living conditions in their hometown – a state their homeland police would never mention .
More adventures in the middle of nowhere; the Gold Tooth guide introduces Sean and Simon to more North Korean workers. Here, they found that many workers had been stationed in the camps for as long as 10 years, but when managers or logging camps arrived, the conversation broke off.
The FSB (Russian secret police), the North Korean secret police and the local militia are all determined to find out what Shane is up to, so the only logical thing to do is to run to the border.
