N.Korean defector recalls 'dismal' conditions as worker deadline looms Nuclear-armed North Korea has long made a fortune from the army of citizens it sends abroad to work. Two years ago, the UN Security Council ordered the countries where they work to send them back as part of efforts to press Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, with complete compliance required by this Sunday.\\nRo Hui-chang, a North Korean defector who supervised workers in the Middle East and Russia for nearly a decade before fleeing to South Korea, says overseas workers face dismal living and working conditions. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES