SHANE SMITH: After getting kicked out of the logging
camp, we headed into the forest in
search of actual loggers.
The Fish knew all the lumber hot spots, and, after some
very lurchy driving, he found us a working
cadre deep in the forest.
This guy is really going to want to talk to us.
Maybe I should soften it up a bit with the shotgun before we
get out, so they know we mean business.
SIMON OSTROVSKY: Good idea.
SHANE SMITH: After our heated words at the logging camp, we
decided to try to irrigate the conversation with the
universal tongue-loosener--
booze.
MALE SPEAKER 1: [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
SHANE SMITH: Hey, you want a beer?
Hello.
[SPEAKING KOREAN]
Anybody want a beer?
Here.
MALE SPEAKER 2: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 2: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 2: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 2: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
SHANE SMITH: Dude's got an iron bar there.
Watch his back.
How long have they been working here?
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
SHANE SMITH: And do they live out here?
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
SHANE SMITH: And how long do they have to stay here before
they can go back home?
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
SHANE SMITH: So what he's saying here is that the
majority of workers have a 10-year-plus labor commitment
to live and work out in the middle of nowhere
for almost no pay.
And when we asked him about days off, he seemed confused.
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
SIMON OSTROVSKY: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [LAUGH]
[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
SIMON OSTROVSKY: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
[SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 3: [LAUGH]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
SHANE SMITH: And are they happy to be here?
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
SHANE SMITH: Here comes a van.
We were talking to our North Korean friends.
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
SHANE SMITH: --and they're now coming to get us.
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
SHANE SMITH: Who are these guys?
SIMON OSTROVSKY: It's the guy in the blue jacket
who we talked to.
Oh, he's the secretary of the party organization here.
SHANE SMITH: Hmm.
So the secretary of the party organization has come.
They're going be told not to talk to us.
MALE SPEAKER 3: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 4: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
KIM YUN ZUN: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
MALE SPEAKER 4: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
SHANE SMITH: We promised to go away from there.
MALE SPEAKER 4: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
IGOR "THE FISH" RYBAKOV: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
MALE SPEAKER 4: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
IGOR "THE FISH" RYBAKOV: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
MALE SPEAKER 4: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
IGOR "THE FISH" RYBAKOV: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
MALE SPEAKER 4: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
SIMON OSTROVSKY: He's really angry.
MALE SPEAKER 4: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
SHANE SMITH: [INAUDIBLE]?
IGOR "THE FISH" RYBAKOV: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
SIMON OSTROVSKY: He's saying he's going to tell the Tynda
captain boss that this guy's helping us out.
He's trying to scare him.
SHANE SMITH: It was right around here that
things got a bit tense.
Yeah, these guys are coming back here.
The dude with the crowbar is coming back.
MALE SPEAKER 5: [SPEAKING KOREAN]
SHANE SMITH: We're in a high-speed car chase at five
miles an hour through the wilds of Siberia.
It's a game of chicken out in the middle of nowhere.