Generally speaking, factories in South Korea or Taiwan follow "ethical" working conditions. South Korea is a modern industrial, democratic country, etc. That said, there are still sweatshops in the United States where you would expect the most ideal working conditions of any country.
Brief history of skate shoe manufacturing: Vans made their shoes in the U.S. until 1994. Hi-tops cost (in integrated stores) $32 in 1985 and $40 in 1991. Even in the early '90s the prices were still reasonable--you could custom order any color or material on just about any Vans shoe and get them back in 3-4 weeks for $1 more. During their early history, DC and Sole Tech (and several others) manufactured shoes in Korea. As most others quickly shifted towards Chinese and Southeast Asian factories, DC touted the ethical working conditions of their Sam Il Tong Sang production (until the parent company established satellite factories in Vietnam and China and sourced the work there).
Bottom line is that you could still make shoes in modern democratic countries and keep the prices reasonable. You could probably even make shoes in the U.S., but quality rather than price would be the main hurdle.